----.--••••• 


i       N 


A  RANCHMAN 


THEODORE  ROO 


erst* 


</ 


XTbe  Sagamore  Series 
The  Works  of 

Theodore  Roosevelt 

In  15  volumes,  each  containing  frontispiece 
16°,  cloth  per  volume  .  .  .  50  cents 
Paper,  per  volume  ....  35  cents 

i.  American  Ideals. 

a.  Administration— Civil  Service. 

3.  The  Wilderness  Hunter. 

4.  Hunting  the  Grisly. 

5.  Hunting  Trips  of  a  Ranchman. 

6.  Hunting  Trips  on  the  Plains  and  in  the  Mountains, 

7.  The  Rough  Riders.* 

8.  The  Winning  of  the  West.    Part  I. 

9.  The  Winning  of  the  West.    Part  II. 

10.  The  Winning  of  the  West.    Part  III. 

11.  The  Winning  of  the  West.    Part  IV. 

12.  The  Winning  of  the  West.    Part  V. 

13.  The  Winning  of  the  West.    Part  VI. 

14.  The  Naval  War  of  1812.    Part  I.— Events  of  1812-13. 

15.  The  Naval  War  of  1812.    Part  II.— Events  of  1814-15. 
*  Published  under  arrangement  with  Messrs.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

New  York  and  London 


Hunting  Trips  of  a 
Ranchman 

Sketches  of  Sport  on  the  Northern 
Cattle  Plains 


Theodore  Roosevelt 

merican  Ideals,"  4t  The  Wilderne 
The  Winning  of  the  West,"  etc. 


{ 

Author  of  "  American  Ideals,"  "  The  Wilderness  Hunter," 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

1900 


COPYRIGHT,  1885 

BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


TO  THAT 
KEENEST  OF  SPORTSMEN 

AND 
TRUEST  OF  FRIENDS 

MY  BROTHER 
ELLIOTT  ROOSEVELT 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

RANCHING  IN   THE  BAD  LANDS. 

The  northern  cattle  plains — Stock-raising — 
Cowboys,  their  dress  and  character — My 
ranches  in  the  Bad  Lands  of  the  Little  Mis- 
souri— Indoor  amusements — Books — Pack- 
rats — Birds — Ranch  life — The  round-up — 
Indians — Ephemeral  nature  of  ranch  life — 
Foes  of  the  stockmen— Wolves,  their  rav- 
ages—Fighting with  dogs— Cougar — My 
brother  kills  one— One  killed  by  blood- 
hounds— The  chase  one  of  the  chief  pleasures 
of  ranch  life— Hunters  and  cowboys— Weap- 
ons—Dress— Hunting-horses— Target-shoot- 
ing and  game  shooting 9 

CHAPTER  II. 

WATER-FOWL. 

Stalking  wild  geese  with  rifle — Another  goose 
killed  in  early  morning — Snow-goose  shot 
with  rifle  from  beaver  meadow— Description 
of  plains  beaver— Its  rapid  extinction- 
Ducks— Not  plenty  on  cattle  plains— Teal— 
Duck-shooting  in  course  of  wagon  trip  to 

5 


6  CONTENTS 

eastward — Mallards  and  wild  geese  in  corn- 
fields—Eagle and  ducks—Curlews— Noisiness 
and  curiosity— Grass  plover — Skunks.  .  76 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  GROUSE  OF  THE   NORTHERN    CATTLE    PLAINS. 

Rifle  and  shot-gun — Sharp-tailed  prairie  fowl — 
Not  often  regularly  pursued — Killed  for  pot — 
Booming  in  spring — Their  young — A  day 
after  them  with  shot-gun  in  August — At  that 
time  easy  to  kill— Change  of  habits  in  fall — 
Increased  wariness— Shooting  in  snow- 
storm from  edge  of  canyon— Killing  them 
with  rifle  in  early  morning— Trip  after  them 
made  by  my  brother  and  myself — Sage-fowl — 
The  grouse  of  the  desert— Habits— Good 
food — Shooting  them — Jack-rabbit — An  ac- 
count of  a  trip  made  by  my  brother,  in  Texas, 
after  wild  turkey — Shooting  them  from  the 
roosts—Coursing  them  with  greyhounds  .  112 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DEER  OF  THE   RIVER  BOTTOMS. 

The  White-tail  deer  best  known  of  American 
large  game — The  most  difficult  to  extermi- 
nate— A  buck  killed  in  light  snow  about 
Christmas-time — The  species  very  canny — 
Two  "  tame  fawns"— Habits  of  deer— Pets- 
Method  of  still-hunting  the  white-tail — 
Habits  contrasted  with  those  of  antelope — 


CONTENTS 

Wagon  trip  to  the  westward— Heavy  cloud- 
burst—Buck shot  while  hunting  on  horse- 
back—Moonlight  ride  17 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  BLACK-TAIL  DEER. 

The  black-tail  and  white-tail  deer  compared — 
Different  zones   where   game   are  found — 
Hunting  on  horseback  and  on  foot— Still- 
hunting  —  Anecdotes  —  Rapid   extermina- 
tion—First   buck    shot— Buck    shot    from 
hiding-place— Different  qualities  required  in 
hunting  different  kinds  of  game— Still-hunt- 
ing the  black-tail  a  most  noble  form  of  sport — 
Dress   required— Character  of  habitat— Bad 
Lands — Best   time   for  shooting,  at  dusk — 
Difficult  aiming— Large  buck  killed  in  late 
evening— Fighting  capacity  of  bucks— Ap- 
pearance of  black-tail— Difficult  to  see  and 
to  hit— Indians  poor  shots— Riding  to  hounds 
-Tracking— Hunting  in  fall  weather— Three 
killed  in  a  day's  hunting  on  foot— A  hunt  on 
horseback— Pony  turns  a  somersault— Two 
bucks  killed  by  one  ball  at  very  long  range     .  210 


CHAPTER  I 

RANCHING    IN    THE    BAD 
LANDS 

THE  great  middle  plains  of  the  United 
States,  parts  of  which  are  still  scantily 
peopled  by  men  of  Mexican  parentage, 
while  other  parts  have  been  but  recently 
won  from  the  warlike  tribes  of  Horse  In- 
dians, now  form  a  broad  pastoral  belt, 
stretching  in  a  north  and  south  line  from 
British  America  to  the  Rio  Grande. 
Throughout  this  great  belt  of  grazing  land 
almost  the  only  industry  is  stock-raising, 
which  is  here  engaged  in  on  a  really  gigantic 
scale;  and  it  is  already  nearly  covered  with 
the  ranches  of  the  stockmen,  except  on  those 
isolated  tracts  (often  themselves  of  great 
extent)  from  which  the  red  men  look  hope- 
lessly and  sullenly  out  upon  their  old  hunt- 

9 


io  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ing-grounds,  now  roaiaed  over  by  the  count- 
less herds  of  long-horned  cattle.  The  north- 
ern portion  of  this  belt  is  that  which  has  been 
most  lately  thrown  open  to  the  whites ;  and  it 
is  with  this  part  only  that  we  have  to  do. 

The  northern  cattle  plains  occupy  the  basin 
of  the  Upper  Missouri ;  that  is,  they  occupy 
all  of  the  land  drained  by  the  tributaries  of 
that  river,  and  by  the  river  itself,  before  it 
takes  its  long  trend  to  the  southeast.  They 
stretch  from  the  rich  wheat  farms  of  Central 
Dakota  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  south- 
ward to  the  Black  Hills  and  the  Big  Horn 
chain,  thus  including  all  of  Montana,  North- 
ern Wyoming,  and  extreme  Western  Da- 
kota. The  character  of  this  rolling,  broken, 
plains  country  is  everywhere  much  the  same. 
It  is  a  high,  nearly  treeless  region,  of  light 
rainfall,  crossed  by  streams  which  are  some- 
times rapid  torrents  and  sometimes  merely 
strings  of  shallow  pools.  In  places  it 
stretches  out  into  deserts  of  alkali  and  sage 
brush,  or  into  nearly  level  prairies  of  short 
grass,  extending  for  many  miles  without  a 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  n 

break ;  elsewhere  there  are  rolling  hills,  some- 
times of  considerable  height;  and  in  other 
places  the  ground  is  rent  and  -broken  into  the 
most  fantastic  shapes,  partly  by  volcanic  ac- 
tion and  partly  by  the  action  of  water  in  a 
dry  climate.  These  latter  portions  form  the 
famous  Bad  Lands.  Cotton-wood  trees 
fringe  the  streams  or  stand  in  groves  on  the 
alluvial  bottoms  of  the  rivers;  and  some  of 
the  steep  hills  and  canyon  sides  are  clad  with 
pines  or  stunted  cedars.  In  the  early  spring, 
when  the  young  blades  first  sprout,  the  land 
looks  green  and  bright;  but  during  the  rest 
of  the  year  there  is  no  such  appearance  of 
freshness,  for  the  short  bunch  grass  is  almost 
brown,  and  the  gray-green  sage  bush,  bitter 
and  withered-looking,  abounds  everywhere, 
and  gives  a  peculiarly  barren  aspect  to  the 
landscape. 

It  is  but  little  over  half  a  dozen  years  since 
these  lands  were  won  from  the  Indians. 
They  were  their  only  remaining  great  hunt- 
ing-grounds, and  towards  the  end  of  the  last 
decade  all  of  the  northern  plains  tribes  went 


12  HUNTING  TRIPS 

on  the  war-path  in  a  final  desperate  effort  to 
preserve  them.  After  bloody  fighting  and 
protracted  campaigns  they  were  defeated, 
and  the  country  thrown  open  to  the  whites, 
while  the  building  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  gave  immigration  an  immense  im- 
petus. There  were  great  quantities  of  game, 
especially  buffalo,  and  the  hunters  who 
thronged  in  to  pursue  the  huge  herds  of  the 
latter  were  the  rough  forerunners  of  civili- 
zation. No  longer  dreading  the  Indians, 
and  having  the  railway  on  which  to  transport 
the  robes,  they  followed  the  buffalo  in  season 
and  out,  until  in  1883  the  herds  were  practi- 
cally destroyed.  But  meanwhile  the  cattle- 
men formed  the  vanguard  of  the  white  set- 
tlers. Already  the  hardy  southern  stockmen 
had  pressed  up  with  their  wild-looking  herds 
to  the  very  border  of  the  dangerous  land,  and 
even  into  it,  trusting  to  luck  and  their  own 
prowess  for  their  safety ;  and  the  instant  the 
danger  was  even  partially  removed,  their  cat- 
tle swarmed  northward  along  the  streams. 
Some  Eastern  men,  seeing  the  extent  of  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  13 

grazing  country,  brought  stock  out  by  the 
railroad,  and  the  short-horned  beasts  became 
almost  as  plenty  as  the  wilder-looking  south- 
ern steers.  At  the  present  time,  indeed,  the 
cattle  of  these  northern  ranges  show  more 
short-horn  than  long-horn  blood. 

Cattle-raising  on  the  plains,  as  now  carried 
on,  started  in  Texas,  where  the  Americans 
had  learned  it  from  the  Mexicans  whom  they 
dispossessed.  It  has  only  become  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  Western  life  during  the  last 
score  of  years.  When  the  Civil  War  was 
raging,  there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
bony,  half  wild  steers  and  cows  in  Texas, 
whose  value  had  hitherto  been'  very  slight  ; 
but  toward  the  middle  of  the  struggle  they 
became  a  most  important  source  of  food  sup- 
ply to  both  armies,  and  when  the  war  had 
ended,  the  profits  of  the  business  were  widely 
known  and  many  men  had  gone  into  it.  At 
first  the  stock-raising  was  all  done  in  Texas, 
and  the  beef-steers,  when  ready  for  sale, 
were  annually  driven  north  along  what  be- 
came a  regular  cattle  trail.  Soon  the  men 


I4  HUNTING  TRIPS 

of  Kansas  and  Colorado  began  to  start 
ranches,  and  Texans  who  were  getting 
crowded  out  moved  their  herds  north  into 
these  lands,  and  afterward  into  Wyoming. 
Large  herds  of  yearling  steers  also  were, 
and  still  are,  driven  from  the  breeding  ranch- 
es of  the  south  to  some  northern  range,  there 
to  be  fattened  for  three  years  before  selling. 
The  cattle  trail  led  through  great  wastes, 
and  the  scores  of  armed  cow-boys  who,  under 
one  or  two  foremen,  accompanied  each  herd, 
had  often  to  do  battle  with  bands  of  hostile 
Indians ;  but  this  danger  is  now  a  thing  of 
the  past,  as,  indeed,  will  soon  be  the  case 
with  the  cattle  trail  itself,  for  year  by  year  the 
grangers  press  steadily  westward  into  it,  and 
when  they  have  once  settled  in  a  place,  will 
not  permit  the  cattle  to  be  driven  across  it. 
In  the  northern  country  the  ranches  vary 
greatly  in  size ;  on  some  there  may  be  but  a 
few  hundred  head,  on  others  ten  times  as 
many  thousand.  The  land  is  still  in  great 
part  unsurveyed,  and  is  hardly  anywhere 
fenced  in,  the  cattle  roaming  over  it  at  will. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  15 

The  small  ranches  are  often  quite  close  to 
one  another,  say  within  a  couple  of  miles; 
but  the  home  ranch  of  a  big  outfit  will  not 
have  another  building  within  ten  or  twenty 
miles  of  it,  or,  indeed,  if  the  country  is  dry, 
not  within  fifty.  The  ranch-house  may  be 
only  a  mud  dugout,  or  a  "  shack  "  made  of 
logs  stuck  upright  into  the  ground;  more 
often  it  is  a  fair-sized,  well-made  building  of 
hewn  logs,  divided  into  several  rooms. 
Around  it  are  grouped  the  other  buildings — 
log-stables,  cow-sheds,  and  hay-ricks,  an  out- 
house in  which  to  store  things,  and  on  large 
ranches  another  house  in  which  the  cowboys 
sleep.  The  strongly  made,  circular  horse- 
corral,  with  a  snubbing-post  in  the  middle, 
stands  close  by;  the  larger  cow-corral,  in 
which  the  stock  is  branded,  may  be  some  dis- 
tance off.  A  small  patch  of  ground  is  usu- 
ally enclosed  as  a  vegetable  garden,  and  a 
very  large  one,  with  water  in  it,  as  a  pasture 
to  be  used  only  in  special  cases.  All  the 
work  is  done  on  horseback,  and  the  quantity 
of  ponies  is  thus  of  necessity  very  great, 


1 6  HUNTING  TRIPS 

some  of  the  large  outfits  numbering  them  by 
hundreds ;  on  my  own  ranch  there  are  eighty. 
Most  of  them  are  small,  wiry  beasts,  not  very 
speedy,  but  with  good  bottom,  and  able  to 
pick  up  a  living  under  the  most  adverse  cir- 
cumstances. There  are  usually  a  few  large, 
fine  horses  kept  for  the  special  use  of  the 
ranchman  or  foremen.  The  best  are  those 
from  Oregon;  most  of  them  come  from 
Texas,  and  many  are  bought  from  the  In- 
dians. They  are  broken  in  a  very  rough 
manner,  and  many  are  in  consequence  vi- 
cious brutes,  with  the  detestable  habit  of 
bucking.  Of  this  habit  I  have  a  perfect 
dread,  and,  if  I  can  help  it,  never  get  on 
a  confirmed  bucker.  The  horse  puts  his 
head  down  between  his  forefeet,  arches 
his  back,  and  with  stiff  legs  gives  a 
succession  of  jarring  jumps,  often  "  chang- 
ing ends "  as  he  does  so.  Even  if  a 
man  can  keep  his  seat,  the  performance  gives 
him  about  as  uncomfortable  a  shaking  up  as 
can  be  imagined. 

The  cattle  rove  free  over  the  hills  and  prai- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  17 

ries,  picking  up  their  own  living  even  in  win- 
ter, all  the  animals  of  each  herd  having 
certain  distinctive  brands  on  them.  But  lit- 
tle attempt  is  made  to  keep  them  within 
definite  bounds,  and  they  wander  whither 
they  wish,  except  that  the  ranchmen  gener- 
ally combine  to  keep  some  of  their  cowboys 
riding  lines  to  prevent  them  straying  away 
altogether.  The  missing  ones  are  generally 
recovered  in  the  annual  round-ups,  when  the 
calves  are  branded.  These  round-ups,  in 
which  many  outfits  join  together,  and  which 
cover  hundreds  of  miles  of  territory,  are  the 
busiest  period  of  the  year  for  the  stockmen, 
who  then,  with  their  cowboys,  work  from 
morning  till  night.  In  winter  little  is  done 
except  a  certain  amount  of  line  riding. 

The  cowboys  form  a  class  by  themselves, 
and  are  now  quite  as  typical  representatives 
of  the  wilder  side  of  Western  life,  as  were  a 
few  years  ago  the  skin-clad  hunters  and 
trappers.  They  are  mostly  of  native  birth, 
and  although  there  are  among  them  wild 
spirits  from  every  land,  yet  the  latter  soon 


1 8  HUNTING  TRIPS 

become  undistinguishable  from  their  Amer- 
ican companions,  for  these  plainsmen  are  far 
from  being  so  heterogeneous  a  people  as  is 
commonly  supposed.  On  the  contrary,  all 
have  a  certain  curious  similarity  to  each 
other ;  existence  in  the  west  seems  to  put  the 
same  stamp  upon  each  and  every  one  of  them. 
Sinewy,  hardy,  self-reliant,  their  life  forces 
them  to  be  both  daring  and  adventurous,  and 
the  passing  over  their  heads  of  a  few  years 
leaves  printed  on  their  faces  certain  lines 
which  tell  of  dangers  quietly  fronted  and 
hardships  uncomplainingly  endured.  They 
are  far  from  being  as  lawless  as  they  are 
described;  though  they  sometimes  cut  queer 
antics  when,  after  many  months  of  lonely 
life,  they  come  into  a  frontier  town  in  which 
drinking  and  gambling  are  the  only  recog- 
nized forms  of  amusement,  and  where  pleas- 
ure and  vice  are  considered  synonymous 
terms.  On  the  round-ups,  or  when  a  number 
get  together,  there  is  much  boisterous,  often 
foul-mouthed  mirth;  but  they  are  rather  si- 
lent, self-contained  men  when  with  strangers, 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  19 

and  are  frank  and  hospitable  to  a  degree. 
The  Texans  are  perhaps  the  best  at  the  actual 
cowboy  work.  They  are  absolutely  fearless 
riders  and  understand  well  the  habits  of  the 
half  wild  cattle,  being  unequalled  in  those 
most  trying  times  when,  for  instance,  the 
cattle  are  stampeded  by  a  thunder-storm  at 
night,  while  in  the  use  of  the  rope  they  are 
only  excelled  by  the  Mexicans.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  are  prone  to  drink,  and  when 
drunk,  to  shoot.  Many  Kansans,  and  others 
from  the  northern  States,  have  also  taken  up 
the  life  of  late  years,  and  though  these 
scarcely  reach,  in  point  of  skill  and  dash,  the 
standard  of  the  southerners,  who  may  be 
said  to  be  born  in  the  saddle,  yet  they  are  to 
the  full  as  resolute  and  even  more  trust- 
worthy. My  own  foremen  were  originally 
eastern  backwoodsmen. 

The  cowboy's  dress  is  both  picturesque 
and  serviceable,  and,  like  many  of  the  terms 
of  his  pursuit,  is  partly  of  Hispano-Mexican 
origin.  It  consists  of  a  broad  felt  hat,  a 
flannel  shirt,  with  a  bright  silk  handkerchief 


20  HUNTING  TRIPS 

loosely  knotted  round  the  neck,  trousers 
tucked  into  high-heeled  boots,  and  a  pair  of 
leather  "  shaps  "  (chaperajos)  or  heavy  rid- 
ing overalls.  Great  spurs  and  a  large-calibre 
revolver  complete  the  costume.  For  horse 
gear  there  is  a  cruel  curb  bit,  and  a  very 
strong,  heavy  saddle  with  high  pommel  and 
cantle.  This  saddle  seems  needlessly 
weighty,  but  the  work  is  so  rough  as  to  make 
strength  the  first  requisite.  A  small  pack  is 
usually  carried  behind  it ;  also  saddle  pockets, 
or  small  saddle-bags;  and  there  are  leather 
strings  wherewith  to  fasten  the  loops  of  the 
raw-hide  lariat.  The  pommel  has  to  be 
stout,  as  one  end  of  the  lariat  is  twisted 
round  it  when  work  is  to  be  done,  and 
the  strain  upon  it  is  tremendous  when 
a  vigorous  steer  has  been  roped,  or 
when,  as  is  often  the  case,  a  wagon 
gets  stuck  and  the  team  has  to  be  helped  out 
by  one  of  the  riders  hauling  from  the  saddle. 
A  ranchman  or  foreman  dresses  precisely  like 
the  cowboys,  except  that  the  materials  are 
finer,  the  saddle  leather  being  handsomely 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  21 

carved,  the  spurs,  bit,  and  revolver  silver- 
mounted,  the  shaps  of  seal-skin,  etc.  The 
revolver  was  formerly  a  necessity,  to  protect 
the  owner  from  Indians  and  other  human 
foes ;  this  is  still  the  case  in  a  few  places,  but, 
as  a  rule,  it  is  now  carried  merely  from  habit, 
or  to  kill  rattlesnakes,  or  on  the  chance  of 
falling  in  with  a  wolf  or  coyote,  while  not 
unfrequently  it  is  used  to  add  game  to  the 
cowboy's  not  too  varied  bill  of  fare. 

A  cowboy  is  always  a  good  and  bold  rider, 
but  his  seat  in  the  saddle  is  not  at  all  lik$  that 
of  one  of  our  eastern  or  southern  fox-hunt- 
ers. The  stirrups  are  so  long  that  the  man 
stands  almost  erect  in  them,  from  his  head 
to  his  feet  being  a  nearly  straight  line.  It  is 
difficult  to  compare  the  horsemanship  of  a 
western  plainsman  with  that  of  an  eastern 
or  southern  cross-country  rider.  In  follow- 
ing hounds  over  fences  and  high  walls,  on  a 
spirited  horse  needing  very  careful  humor- 
ing, the  latter  would  certainly  excel ;  but  he 
would  find  it  hard  work  to  sit  a  bucking 
horse  like  a  cowboy,  or  to  imitate  the  head- 


22  HUNTING  TRIPS 

long  dash  with  which  one  will  cut  out  a  cow 
marked  with  his  own  brand  from  a  herd  of 
several  hundred  others,  or  will  follow  at  full 
speed  the  twistings  and  doublings  of  a  re- 
fractory steer  over  ground  where  an  eastern 
horse  would  hardly  keep  its  feet  walking. 

My  own  ranches,  the  Elkhorn  and  the 
Chimney  Butte,  lie  along  the  eastern  border 
of  the  cattle  country,  where  the  Little  Mis- 
souri flows  through  the  heart  of  the  Bad 
Lands.  This,  like  most  other  plains  rivers, 
has  3  broad,  shallow  bed,  through  which  in 
times  of  freshets  runs  a  muddy  torrent,  that 
neither  man  nor  beast  can  pass ;  at  other 
seasons  of  the  year  it  is  very  shallow,  spread- 
ing out  into  pools,  between  which  the  trick- 
ling water  may  be  but  a  few  inches  deep. 
Even  then,  however,  it  is  not  always  easy  to 
cross,  for  the  bottom  is  filled  with  quicksands 
and  mud-holes.  The  river  flows  in  long 
sigmoid  curves  through  an  alluvial  valley 
of  no  great  width.  The  amount  of  this  allu- 
vial land  enclosed  by  a  single  bend  is  called 
a  bottom,  which  may  be  either  covered  with 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  23 

cotton-wood  trees  or  else  be  simply  a  great 
grass  meadow.  From  the  edges  of  the  val- 
ley the  land  rises  abruptly  in  steep  high 
buttes  whose  crests  are  sharp  and  jagged. 
This  broken  country  extends  back  from  the 
river  for  many  miles,  and  has  been  called  al- 
ways, by  Indians,  French  voyageurs,  and 
American  trappers  alike,  the  "  Bad  Lands/' 
partly  from  its  dreary  and  forbidding  aspect 
and  partly  from  the  difficulty  experienced  in 
travelling  through  it.  Every  few  miles  it 
is  crossed  by  creeks  which  open  into  the  Lit- 
tle Missouri,  of  which  they  are  simply  repe- 
titions in  miniature,  except  that  during  most 
of  the  year  they  are  almost  dry,  some  of 
them  having  in  their  beds  here  and  there  a 
never-failing  spring  or  muddy  alkaline-water 
hole.  From  these  creeks  run  coulies,  or  nar- 
row, winding  valleys,  through  which  water 
flows  when  the  snow  melts;  their  bottoms 
contain  patches  of  brush,  and  they  lead  back 
into  the  heart  of  the  Bad  Lands.  Some  of 
the  buttes  spread  out  into  level  plateaus, 
many  miles  in  extent ;  others  form  chains,  or 


24  HUNTING  TRIPS 

rise  as  steep  isolated  masses.  Some  are  of 
volcanic  origin,  being  composed  of  masses 
of  scoria;  the  others,  of  sandstone  or  clay, 
are  worn  by  water  into  the  most  fantastic 
shapes.  In  coloring  they  are  as  bizarre  as  in 
form.  Among  the  level,  parallel  strata 
which  make  up  the  land  are  some  of  coal. 
When  a  coal  vein  gets  on  fire  it  makes  what 
is  called  a  burning  mine,  and  the  clay  above 
it  is  turned  into  brick;  so  that  where  water 
wears  away  the  side  of  a  hill  sharp  streaks 
of  black  and  red  are  seen  across  it,  mingled 
with  the  grays,  purples,  and  browns.  Some 
of  the  buttes  are  overgrown  with  gnarled, 
stunted  cedars  or  small  pines,  and  they  are 
all  cleft  through  and  riven  in  every  direction 
by  deep  narrow  ravines,  or  by  canyons  with 
perpendicular  sides. 

In  spite  of  their  look  of  savage  desolation, 
the  Bad  Lands  make  a  good  cattle  country, 
for  there  is  plenty  of  nourishing  grass  and 
excellent  shelter  from  the  winter  storms. 
The  cattle  keep  close  to  them  in  the  cold 
months,  while  in  the  summer  time  they 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  25 

wander  out  on  the  broad  prairies  stretching 
back  of  them,  or  come  down  to  the  river 
bottoms. 

My  home  ranch-house  stands  on  the  river 
brink.  From  the  low,  long  veranda,  shaded 
by  leafy  cotton- woods,  one  looks  across  sand 
bars  and  shallows  to  a  strip  of  meadowland, 
behind  which  rises  a  line  of  sheer  cliffs  and 
grassy  plateaus.  This  veranda  is  a  pleasant 
place  in  the  summer  evenings  when  a  cool 
breeze  stirs  along  the  river  and  blows  in  the 
faces  of  the  tired  men,  who  loll  back  in  their 
rocking-chairs  (what  true  American  does  not 
enjoy  a  rocking-chair?),  book  in  hand — 
though  they  do  not  often  read  the  books,  but 
rock  gently  to  and  fro,  gazing  sleepily  out 
at  the  weird-looking  buttes  opposite,  until 
their  sharp  outlines  grow  indistinct  and  pur- 
ple in  the  after-glow  of  the  sunset.  The 
story-high  house  of  hewn  logs  is  clean  and 
neat,  with  many  rooms,  so  that  one  can  be 
alone  if  one  wishes  to.  The  nights  in  sum- 
mer are  cool  and  pleasant,  and  there  are 
plenty  of  bear-skins  and  buffalo  robes, 


26  HUNTING  TRIPS 

trophies  of  our  own  skill,  with  which  to  bid 
defiance  to  the  bitter  cold  of  winter.  In 
summer  time  we  are  not  much  within  doors, 
for  we  rise  before  dawn  and  work  hard" 
enough  to  be  willing  to  go  to  bed  soon  after 
nightfall.  The  long  winter  evenings  are 
spent  sitting  round  the  hearthstone,  while 
the  pine  logs  roar  and  crackle,  and  the  men 
play  checkers  or  chess,  in  the  fire  light.  The 
rifles  stand  in  the  corners  of  the  room  or  rest 
across  the  elk  antlers  which  jut  out  from  over 
the  fireplace.  From  the  deer  horns  ranged 
along  the  walls  and  thrust  into  the  beams 
and  rafters  hang  heavy  overcoats  of  wolf- 
skin or  coon-skin,  and  otter-fur  or  beaver- 
fur  caps  and  gauntlets.  Rough  board  shelves 
hold  a  number  of  books,  without  which  some 
of  the  evenings  would  be  long  indeed.  No 
ranchman  who  loves  sport  can  afford  to  be 
without  Van  Dyke's  "  Still  Hunter/'  Dodge's 
"Plains  of  the  Great  West,"  or  Caton's 
"  Deer  and  Antelope  of  America " ;  and 
Coues'  "  Birds  of  the  Northwest "  will  be 
valued  if  he  cares  at  all  for  natural  history. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  27 

A  western  plainsman  is  reminded  every  day, 
by  the  names  of  the  prominent  landmarks 
among  which  he  rides,  that  the  country  was 
known  to  men  who  spoke  French  long  before 
any  of  his  own  kinsfolk  came  to  it,  and  hence 
he  reads  with  a  double  interest  Parkman's 
histories  of  the  early  Canadians.  As  for 
Irving,  Hawthorne,  Cooper,  Lowell,  and  the 
other  standbys,  I  suppose  no  man,  east  or 
west,  would  willingly  be  long  without  them ; 
while  for  lighter  reading  there  are  dreamy 
Ike  Marvel,  Burroughs*  breezy  pages,  and 
the  quaint,  pathetic  character-sketches  of  the 
Southern  writers — Cable,  Craddock,  Macon, 
Joel  Chandler  Harris,  and  sweet  Sherwood 
Bonner.  And  when  one  is  in  the  Bad  Lands 
he  feels  as  if  they  somehow  look  just  exactly 
as  Poe's  tales  and  poems  sound. 

By  the  way,  my  books  have  some  rather 
unexpected  foes,  in  the  shape  of  the  pack 
rats.  These  are  larger  than  our  house  rats, 
with  soft  gray  fur,  big  eyes,  and  bushy  tails, 
like  a  squirrel's ;  they  are  rather  pretty  beasts 
and  very  tame,  often  coming  into  the  shacks 


28  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  log-cabins  of  the  settlers.  Woodmen 
and  plainsmen,  in  their  limited  vocabulary, 
make  great  use  of  the  verb  "  pack/'  which 
means  to  carry,  more  properly  to  carry  on 
one's  back;  and  these  rats  were  christened 
pack  rats,  on  account  of  their  curious  and  in- 
veterate habit  of  dragging  off  to  their  holes 
every  object  they  can  possibly  move.  From 
the  hole  of  one,  underneath  the  wall  of  a  hut, 
I  saw  taken  a  small  revolver,  a  hunting-knife, 
two  books,  a  fork,  a  small  bag,  and  a  tin  cup. 
The  little  shack  mice  are  much  more  common 
than  the  rats,  and  among  them  there  is  a  wee 
pocket-mouse,  with  pouches  on  the  outside  of 
its  little  cheeks. 

In  the  spring,  when  the  thickets  are  green, 
the  hermit  thrushes  sing  sweetly  in  them; 
when  it  is  moonlight,  the  voluble,  cheery 
notes  of  the  thrashers  or  brown  thrushes 
can  be  heard  all  night  long.  One  of  our 
sweetest,  loudest  songsters  is  the  meadow- 
lark  ;  this  I  could  hardly  get  used  to  at  first, 
for  it  looks  exactly  like  the  eastern  meadow- 
lark,  which  utters  nothing  but  a  harsh,  dis- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  29 

agreeable  chatter.  But  the  plains  air  seems 
to  give  it  a  voice,  and  it  will  perch  on  the  top 
of  a  bush  or  tree  and  sing  for  hours  in  rich, 
bubbling  tones.  Out  on  the  prairie  there  are 
several  kinds  of  plains  sparrows  which  sing 
very  brightly,  one  of  them  hovering  in  the 
air  all  the  time,  like  a  bobolink.  Sometimes 
in  the  early  morning,  when  crossing  the  open, 
grassy  plateaus,  I  have  heard  the  prince  of 
them  all,  the  Missouri  skylark.  The  skylark 
sings  on  the  wing,  soaring  over  head  and 
mounting  in  spiral  curves  until  it  can  hardly 
be  seen,  while  its  bright,  tender  strains  never 
cease  for  a  moment.  I  have  sat  on  my  horse 
and  listened  to  one  singing  for  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  at  a  time  without  stopping.  There 
is  another  bird  also  which  sings  on  the  wing, 
though  I  have  not  seen  the  habit  put  down  in 
the  books.  One  bleak  March  day,  when 
snow  covered  the  ground  and  the  shaggy 
ponies  crowded  about  the  empty  corral,  a 
flock  of  snow-buntings  came  familiarly 
round  the  cow-shed,  clamoring  over  the 
ridge-pole  and  roof.  Every  few  moments 


3o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

one  of  them  would  mount  into  the  air,  hover- 
ing about  with  quivering  wings  and  warbling 
a  loud,  merry  song  with  some  very  sweet 
notes.  They  were  a  most  welcome  little 
group  of  guests,  and  we  were  sorry  when, 
after  loitering  around  a  day  or  two,  they  dis- 
appeared toward  their  breeding  haunts. 

In  the  still  fall  nights,  if  we  lie  awake  we 
can  listen  to  the  clanging  cries  of  the  water- 
fowl, as  their  flocks  speed  southward;  and 
in  cold  weather  the  coyotes  occasionally 
come  near  enough  for  us  to  hear  their  un- 
canny wailing.  The  larger  wolves,  too,  now 
and  then  join  in,  with  a  kind  of  deep,  dismal 
howling ;  but  this  melancholy  sound  is  more 
often  heard  when  out  camping  than  from 
the  ranch-house. 

The  charm  of  ranch  life  comes  in  its  free- 
dom, and  the  vigorous,  open-air  existence  it 
forces  a  man  to  lead.  Except  when  hunting 
in  bad  ground,  the  whole  time  away  from 
the  house  is  spent  in  the  saddle,  and  there 
are  so  many  ponies  that  a  fresh  one  can  al- 
ways be  had.  These  ponies  are  of  every  size 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  31 

and  disposition,  and  rejoice -in  names  as  dif- 
ferent as  their  looks.  Hackamore,  Wire 
Fence,  Steel-Trap,  War  Cloud,  Pinto,  Buck- 
skin, Circus,  and  Standing  Jimmie  are 
among  those  that,  as  I  write,  are  running 
frantically  round  the  corral  in  the  vain  effort 
to  avoid  the  rope,  wielded  by  the  dexterous 
and  sinewy  hand  of  a  broad-hatted  cowboy. 
A  ranchman  is  kept  busy  most  of  the  time, 
but  his  hardest  work  comes  during  the 
spring  and  fall  round-ups,  when  the  calves 
are  branded  or  the  beeves  gathered  for 
market.  Our  round-up  district  includes  the 
Beaver  and  Little  Beaver  creeks  (both  of 
which  always  contain  running  water,  and 
head  up  toward  each  other),  and  as  much  of 
the  river,  nearly  two  hundred  miles  in  ex- 
tent, as  lies  between  their  mouths.  All  the 
ranches  along  the  line  of  these  two  creeks 
and  the  river  space  between  join  in  sending 
from  one  to  three  or  four  men  to  the  round- 
up, each  man  taking  eight  ponies;  and  for 
every  six  or  seven  men  there  will  be  a  four- 
horse  wagon  to  carry  the  blankets  and  mess 


32  HUNTING  TRIPS 

kit.  The  whole,  including  perhaps  forty  or 
fifty  cowboys,  is  under  the  head  of  one  first- 
class  foreman,  styled  the  captain  of  the 
found-up.  Beginning  at  one  end  of  the  line 
the  round-up  works  along  clear  to  the  other. 
Starting  at  the  head  of  one  creek,  the  wagons 
and  the  herd  of  spare  ponies  go  down  it  ten 
or  twelve  miles,  while  the  cowboys,  divided 
into  small  parties  scour  the  neighboring 
country,  covering  a  great  extent  of  territory, 
and  in  the  evening  come  into  the  appointed 
place  with  all  the  cattle  they  have  seen.  This 
big  herd,  together  with  the  pony  herd,  is 
guarded  and  watched  all  night,  and  driven 
during  the  day.  At  each  home-ranch  (where 
there  is  always  a  large  corral  fitted  for  the 
purpose)  all  the  cattle  of  that  brand  are 
cut  out  from  the  rest  of  the  herd,  which  is 
to  continue  its  journey;  and  the  cows  and 
calves  are  driven  into  the  corral,  where  the 
latter  are  roped,  thrown,  and  branded.  In 
throwing  the  rope  from  horseback,  the  loop, 
held  in  the  right  hand,  is  swung  round  and 
round  the  head  by  a  motion  of  the  wrist; 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  33 

when  on  foot,  the  hand  is  usually  held  by 
the  side,  the  loop  dragging  on  the  ground. 
It  is  a  pretty  sight  to  see  a  man  who  knows 
how,  use  the  rope ;  again  and  again  an  expert 
will  catch  fifty  animals  by  the  leg  without 
making  a  misthrow.  But  unless  practice  is 
begun  very  young  it  is  hard  to  become  really 
proficient. 

Cutting  out  cattle,  next  to  managing  a 
stampeded  herd  at  night,  is  that  part  of  the 
cowboy's  work  needing  the  boldest  and  most 
skilful  horsemanship.  A  young  heifer  or 
steer  is  very  loath  to  leave  the  herd,  always 
tries  to  break  back  into  it,  can  run  like  a  deer, 
and  can  dodge  like  a  rabbit ;  but  a  thorough 
cattle  pony  enjoys  the  work  as  much  as  its 
rider,  and  follows  a  beast  like  a  four-footed 
fate  through  every  double  and  turn.  The 
ponies  for  the  cutting-out  or  afternoon  work 
are  small  and  quick ;  those  used  for  the  cir- 
cle-riding in  the  morning  have  need  rather 
to  be  strong  and  rangey. 

The  work  on  a  round-up  is  very  hard,  but 
although  the  busiest  it  is  also  the  pleasantest 


34 


HUNTING  TRIPS 


part  of  a  cowboy's  existence.  His  food  is 
good,  though  coarse,  and  his  sleep  is  sound 
indeed ;  while  the  work  is  very  exciting,  and 
is  done  in  company,  under  the  stress  of  an 
intense  rivalry  between  all  the  men,  both  as 
to  their  own  skill,  and  as  to  the  speed  and 
training  of  their  horses.  Clumsiness,  and 
still  more  the  slightest  approach  to  timidity, 
expose  a  man  to  the  roughest  and  most 
merciless  raillery;  and  the  unfit  are  weeded 
out  by  a  very  rapid  process  of  natural  selec- 
tion. When  the  work  is  over  for  the  day 
the  men  gather  round  the  fire  for  an  hour  or 
two  to  sing  songs,  talk,  smoke,  and  tell  sto- 
ries ;  and  he  who  has  a  good  voice,  or,  better 
still,  can  play  a  fiddle  or  banjo,  is  sure  to  re- 
ceive his  meed  of  most  sincere  homage. 

Though  the  ranchman  is  busiest  during 
the  round-up,  yet  he  is  far  from  idle  at  other 
times.  He  rides  round  among  the  cattle  to 
see  if  any  are  sick,  visits  any  outlying  camp 
of  his  men,  hunts  up  any  band  of  ponies 
which  may  stray — and  they  are  always 
straying, — superintends  the  haying,  and,  in 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  35 

fact,  does  not  often  find  that  he  has  too  much 
leisure  time  on  his  hands.  Even  in  winter 
he  has  work  which  must  be  done.  His  ranch 
supplies  milk,  butter,  eggs,  and  potatoes,  and 
his  rifle  keeps  him,  at  least  intermittently,  in 
fresh  meat;  but  coffee,  sugar,  flour,  and 
whatever  else  he  may  want,  has  to  be  hauled 
in,  and  this  is  generally  done  when  the  ice 
will  bear.  Then  firewood  must  be  chopped ; 
or,  if  there  is  a  good  coal  vein,  as  on  my 
ranch,  the  coal  must  be  dug  out  and  hauled 
in.  Altogether,  though  the  ranchman  will 
have  time  enough  to  take  shooting  trips,  he 
will  be  very  far  from  having  time  to  make 
shooting  a  business,  as  a  stranger  who  comes 
for  nothing  else  can  afford  to  do. 

There  are  now  no  Indians  left  in  my  im- 
mediate neighborhood,  though  a  small  party 
of  harmless  Grosventres  occasionally  passes 
through;  yet  it  is  but  six  years  since  the 
Sioux  surprised  and  killed  five  men  in  a 
log  station  just  south  of  me,  where  the  Fort 
Keogh  trail  crosses  the  river;  and,  two 
years  ago,  when  I  went  down  on  the  prairies 


36  HUNTING  TRIPS 

toward  the  Black  Hills,  there  was  still  dan- 
ger from  Indians.  That  summer  the  buffalo 
hunters  had  killed  a  couple  of  Crows,  and 
while  we  were  on  the  prairie  a  long-range 
skirmish  occurred  near  us  between  some 
Cheyennes  and  a  number  of  cowboys.  In 
fact,  we  ourselves  were  one  day  scared  by 
what  we  thought  to  be  a  party  of  Sioux; 
but  on  riding  toward  them  they  proved  to 
be  half-breed  Crees,  who  were  more  afraid 
of  us  than  we  were  of  them. 

During  the  past  century  a  good  deal  of 
sentimental  nonsense  has  been  talked  about 
our  taking  the  Indians'  land.  Now,  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  for  a  moment  that  gross  wrong 
has  not  been  done  the  Indians,  both  by  gov- 
ernment and  individuals,  again  and  again. 
The  government  makes  promises  impossible 
to  perform,  and  then  fails  to  do  even  what 
it  might  toward  their  fulfilment;  and  where 
brutal  and  reckless  frontiersmen  are  brought 
into  contact  with  a  set  of  treacherous,  re- 
vengeful, and  fiendishly  cruel  savages  a  long 
series  of  outrages  by  both  sides  is  sure  to 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  37 

follow.  But  as  regards  taking  the  land,  at 
least  from  the  western  Indians,  the  simple 
truth  is  that  the  latter  never  had  any  real 
ownership  in  it  at  all.  Where  the  game  was 
plenty,  there  they  hunted ;  they  followed  it 
when  it  moved  away  to  new  hunting- 
grounds,  unless  they  were  prevented  by 
stronger  rivals;  and  to  most  of  the  land  on 
which  we  found  them  they  had  no  stronger 
claim  than  that  of  having  a  few  years  pre- 
viously butchered  the  original  occupants. 
When  my  cattle  came  to  the  Little  Missouri 
the  region  was  only  inhabited  by  a  score  or 
so  of  white  hunters;  their  title  to  it  was 
quite  as  good  as  that  of  most  Indian  tribes 
to  the  lands  they  claim ;  yet  nobody  dreamed 
of  saying  that  these  hunters  owned  the  coun- 
try. Each  could  eventually  have  kept  his 
own  claim  of  160  acres,  and  no  more.  The 
Indians  should  be  treated  in  just  the  same 
way  that  we  treat  the  white  settlers.  Give 
each  his  little  claim;  if,  as  would  generally 
happen,  he  declined  this,  why  then  let  him 
share  the  fate  of  the  thousands  of  white 


38  HUNTING  TRIPS 

hunters  and  trappers  who  have  lived  on  the 
game  that  the  settlement  of  the  country  has 
exterminated,  and  let  him,  like  these  whites, 
who  will  not  work,  perish  from  the  face  of 
the  earth  which  he  cumbers. 

The  doctrine  seems  merciless,  and  so  it  is ; 
but  it  is  just  and  rational  for  all  that.  It 
does  not  do  to  be  merciful  to  a  few,  at  the 
cost  of  justice  to  the  many.  The  cattle-men 
at  least  keep  herds  and  build  houses  on  the 
land ;  yet  I  would  not  for  a  moment  debar 
settlers  from  the  right  of  entry  to  the  cattle 
country,  though  their  coming  in  means  in 
the  end  the  destruction  of  us  and  our  in- 
dustry. 

For  we  ourselves,  and  the  life  that  we  lead, 
will  shortly  pass  away  from  the  plains  as 
completely  as  the  red  and  white  hunters  who 
have  vanished  from  before  our  herds.  The 
free,  open-air  life  of  the  ranchman,  the 
pleasantest  and  healthiest  life  in  America, 
is  from  its  very  nature  ephemeral.  The 
broad  and  boundless  prairies  have  already 
been  bounded  and  will  soon  be  made  nar- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


39 


row.  It  is  scarcely  a  figure  of  speech  to  say 
that  the  tide  of  white  settlement  during  the 
last  few  years  has  risen  over  the  west  like 
a  flood ;  and  the  cattle-men  are  but  the  spray 
from  the  crest  of  the  wave,  thrown  far  in 
advance,  but  soon  to  be  overtaken.  As  the 
settlers  throng  into  the  lands  and  seize  the 
good  ground,  especially  that  near  the 
streams,  the  great  fenceless  ranches,  where 
the  cattle  and  their  mounted  herdsmen  wan- 
dered unchecked  over  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  acres,  will  be  broken  up  and  divided  into 
corn  land,  or  else  into  small  grazing  farms 
where  a  few  hundred  head  of  stock  are 
closely  watched  and  taken  care  of.  Of  course 
the  most  powerful  ranches,  owned  by  wealthy 
corporations  or  individuals,  and  already 
firmly  rooted  in  the  soil,  will  long  resist  this 
crowding ;  in  places,  where  the  ground  is  not 
suited  to  agriculture,  or  where,  through  the 
old  Spanish  land-grants,  title  has  been  ac- 
quired to  a  great  tract  of  territory,  cattle 
ranching  will  continue  for  a  long  time, 
though  in  a  greatly  modified  form ;  elsewhere 


40  HUNTING  TRIPS 

I  doubt  if  it  outlasts  the  present  century. 
Immense  sums  of  money  have  been  made  at 
it  in  the  past,  and  it  is  still  fairly  profitable ; 
but  the  good  grounds  (aside  from  those  re- 
served for  the  Indians)  are  now  almost  all 
taken  up,  and  it  is  too  late  for  new  men  to 
start  at  it  on  their  own  account,  unless  in 
exceptional  cases,  or  where  an  Indian  reser- 
vation is  thrown  open.  Those  that  are  now 
in  will  continue  to  make  money;  but  most 
of  those  who  hereafter  take  it  up  will  lose. 
The  profits  of  the  business  are  great ;  but 
the  chances  for  loss  are  great  also.  A  win- 
ter of  unusual  severity  will  work  sad  havoc 
among  the  young  cattle,  especially  the 
heifers;  sometimes  a  disease  like  the  Texas 
cattle  fever  will  take  off  a  whole  herd ;  and 
many  animals  stray  and  are  not  recovered. 
In  fall,  when  the  grass  is  like  a  mass  of  dry 
and  brittle  tinder,  the  fires  do  much  damage, 
reducing  the  prairies  to  blackened  deserts  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  see,  and  destroying  feed 
which  would  keep  many  thousand  head  of 
stock  during  winter.  Then  we  hold  in  about 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  41 

equal  abhorrence  the  granger  who  may  come 
in  to  till  the  land,  and  the  sheep-owner  who 
drives  his  flocks  over  it.  The  former  will 
gradually  fill  up  the  country  to  our  own  ex- 
clusion, while  the  latter's  sheep  nibble  the 
grass  off  so  close  to  the  ground  as  to  starve 
out  all  other  animals. 

Then  we  suffer  some  loss — in  certain  re- 
gions very  severe  loss — from  wild  beasts, 
such  as  cougars,  wolves,  and  lynxes.  The 
latter,  generally  called  "  bob-cats/'  merely 
make  inroads  on  the  hen-roosts  (one  of  them 
destroyed  half  my  poultry,  coming  night 
after  night  with  most  praiseworthy  regu- 
larity), but  the  cougars  and  wolves  destroy 
many  cattle. 

The  wolf  is  not  very  common  with  u«; 
nothing  like  as  plentiful  as  the  little  coyote. 
A  few  years  ago  both  wolves  and  coyotes 
were  very  numerous  on  the  plains,  and  as 
Indians  and  hunters  rarely  molested  them, 
they  were  then  very  unsuspicious.  But  all 
this  is  changed  now.  When  the  cattle-men 
came  in  they  soon  perceived  in  the  wolves 


42  HUNTING  TRIPS 

their  natural  foes,  and  followed  them  unre- 
lentingly. They  shot  at  and  chased  them  on 
all  occasions,  and  killed  great  numbers  by 
poisoning;  and  as  a  consequence  the  com- 
paratively few  that  are  left  are  as  wary  and 
cunning  beasts  as  exist  anywhere.  They 
hardly  ever  stir  abroad  by  day,  and  hence  are 
rarely  shot  or  indeed  seen.  During  the  last 
three  years  these  brutes  have  killed  nearly  a 
score  of  my  cattle,  and  in  return  we  have  poi- 
soned six  or  eight  wolves  and  a  couple  of 
dozen  coyotes ;  yet  in  all  our  riding  we  have 
not  seen  so  much  as  a  single  wolf,  and  only 
rarely  a  coyote.  The  coyotes  kill  sheep  and 
occasionally  very  young  calves,  but  never 
meddle  with  any  thing  larger.  The  stock- 
man fears  only  the  large  wolves. 

According  to  my  experience,  the  wolf  is 
rather  solitary.  A  single  one  or  a  pair  will 
be  found  by  themselves,  or  possibly  with 
one  or  more  well-grown  young  ones,  and 
will  then  hunt  over  a  large  tract  where  no 
other  wolves  will  be  found;  and  as  they 
wander  very  far,  and  as  their  melancholy 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  43 

bowlings  have  a  most  ventriloquial  effect, 
they  are  often  thought  to  be  much  more 
plentiful  than  they  are.  During  the  day- 
time they  lie  hid  in  caves  or  in  some  patch 
of  bush,  and  will  let  a  man  pass  right  by 
them  without  betraying  their  presence.  Oc- 
casionally somebody  runs  across  them  by  ac- 
cident. A  neighboring  ranchman  to  me 
once  stumbled,  while  riding  an  unshod  pony, 
right  into  the  midst  of  four  wolves  who 
\\  ere  lying  in  some  tall,  rank  grass,  and  shot 
one  with  his  revolver  and  crippled  another 
before  they  could  get  away.  But  such  an 
accident  as  this  is  very  rare;  and  when,  by 
any  chance,  the  wolf  is  himself  abroad  in 
the  daytime  he  keeps  such  a  sharp  look-out, 
and  is  so  wary,  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  get  near  him,  and  he  gives  every  human 
being  a  wide  berth.  At  night  it  is  differ- 
ent. The  wolves  then  wander  far  and  wide, 
often  coming  up  round  the  out-buildings  of 
the  ranches;  I  have  seen  in  light  snow  the 
tracks  of  two  that  had  walked  round  the 
house  within  fifty  feet  of  it.  I  have  never 


44  HUNTING  TRIPS 

heard  of  an  instance  where  a  man  was  at- 
tacked or  threatened  by  them,  but  they  will 
at  times  kill  every  kind  of  domestic  animal. 
They  are  fond  of  trying  to  catch  young  foals, 
but  do  not  often  succeed,  for  the  mares  and 
foals  keep  together  in  a  kind  of  straggling 
band,  and  the  foal  is  early  able  to  run  at 
good  speed  for  a  short  distance.  When  at- 
tacked, the  mare  and  foal  dash  off  towards 
the  rest  of  the  band,  which  gathers  together 
at  once,  the  foals  pressing  into  the  middle 
and  the  mares  remaining  on  the  outside,  not 
in  a  ring  with  their  heels  out,  but  moving  in 
and  out,  and  forming  a  solid  mass  into  which 
the  wolves  do  not  venture.  Full-grown 
horses  are  rarely  molested,  while  a  stallion 
becomes  himself  the  assailant. 

In  early  spring  when  the  cows  begin  to 
calve  the  wolves  sometimes  wait  upon  the 
herds  as  they  did  of  old  on  the  buffalo,  and 
snap  up  any  calf  that  strays  away  from  its 
mother.  When  hard  pressed  by  hunger  they 
will  kill  a  steer  or  a  heifer,  choosing  the  bit- 
terest and  coldest  night  to  make  the  attack. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  45 

The  prey  is  invariably  seized  by  the  haunch 
or  flank,  and  its  entrails  afterwards  torn  out ; 
while  a  cougar,  on  the  contrary,  grasps  the 
neck  or  throat.  Wolves  have  very  strong 
teeth  and  jaws  and  inflict  a  most  severe  bite. 
They  will  in  winter  come  up  to  the  yards 
and  carry  away  a  sheep,  pig,  or  dog  without 
much  difficulty;  I  have  known  one  which 
had  tried  to  seize  a  sheep  and  been  pre- 
vented by  the  sheep  dogs  to  canter  off  with 
one  of  the  latter  instead.  But  a  spirited  dog 
will  always  attack  a  wolf.  On  the  ranch 
next  below  mine  there  was  a  plucky  bull 
terrier,  weighing  about  twenty-five  pounds, 
who  lost  his  life  owing  to  his  bravery.  On 
one  moonlight  night  three  wolves  came 
round  the  stable,  and  the  terrier  sallied  out 
promptly.  He  made  such  a  quick  rush  as 
to  take  his  opponents  by  surprise,  and  seized 
one  by  the  throat ;  nor  did  he  let  go  till  the 
other  two  tore  him  almost  asunder  across 
the  loins.  Better  luck  attended  a  large 
mongrel  called  a  sheep  dog  by  his  master, 
but  whose  blood  was  apparently  about 


46  HUNTING  TRIPS 

equally  derived  from  collie,  Newfoundland, 
and  bulldog.  He  was  a  sullen,  but  very  in- 
telligent and  determined  brute,  powerfully 
built  and  with  strong  jaws,  and  though 
neither  as  tall  nor  as  heavy  as  a  wolf  he  had 
yet  killed  two  of  these  animals  single- 
handed.  One  of  them  had  come  into  the 
farm-yard  at  night,  and  had  taken  a  young 
pig,  whose  squeals  roused  everybody.  The 
wolf  loped  off  with  his  booty,  the  dog  run- 
ning after  and  overtaking  him  in  the  dark- 
ness. The  struggle  was  short,  for  the  dog 
had  seized  the  wolf  by  the  throat  and  the  lat- 
ter could  not  shake  him  off,  though  he  made 
the  most  desperate  efforts,  rising  on  his  hind 
legs  and  pressing  the  dog  down  with  his 
fore  paws.  This  time  the  victor  escaped 
scatheless,  but  in  his  second  fight,  when  he 
strangled  a  still  larger  wolf,  he  was  severely 
punished.  The  wolf  had  seized  a  sheep, 
when  the  dog,  rushing  on  him,  caused  him 
to  leave  his  quarry.  Instead  of  running  he 
turned  to  bay  at  once,  taking  off  one  of  the 
assailant's  ears  with  a  rapid  snap.  The  dog 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


47 


did  not  get  a  good  hold,  and  the  wolf  scored 
him  across  the  shoulders  and  flung  him  off. 
They  then  faced  each  other  for  a  minute  and 
at  the  next  dash  the  dog  made  good  his 
throat  hold,  and  throttled  the  wolf,  though 
the  latter  contrived  to  get  his  foe's  foreleg 
into  his  jaws  and  broke  it  clear  through. 
When  I  saw  the  dog  he  had  completely  re- 
covered, although  pretty  well  scarred. 

On  another  neighboring  ranch  there  is  a 
most  ill-favored  hybrid,  whose  mother  was 
a  Newfoundland  and  whose  father  was  a 
large  wolf.  It  is  stoutly  built,  with  erect 
ears,  pointed  muzzle,  rather  short  head,  short 
bushy  tail,  and  of  a  brindled  color ;  funnily 
enough  it  looks  more  like  a  hyena  than  like 
either  of  its  parents.  It  is  familiar  with 
people  and  a  good  cattle  dog,  but  rather 
treacherous;  it  both  barks  and  howls.  The 
parent  wolf  carried  on  a  long  courtship  with 
the  Newfoundland.  He  came  round  the 
ranch,  regularly  and  boldly,  every  night,  and 
she  would  at  once  go  out  to  him.  In  the 
daylight  he  would  lie  hid  in  the  bushes  at 


48  HUNTING  TRIPS 

some  little  distance.  Once  or  twice  his  hid- 
ing-place was  discovered  and  then  the  men 
would  amuse  themselves  by  setting  the  New- 
foundland on  him.  She  would  make  at  him 
with  great  apparent  ferocity ;  but  when  they 
were  a  good  way  from  the  men  he  would 
turn  round  and  wait  for  her  and  they  would 
go  romping  off  together,  not  to  be  seen  again 
for  several  hours. 

The  cougar  is  hardly  ever  seen  round  my 
ranch;  but  toward  the  mountains  it  is  very 
destructive  both  to  horses  and  horned  cat- 
tle. The  ranchmen  know  it  by  the  name  of 
mountain  lion ;  and  it  is  the  same  beast  that 
in  the  east  is  called  panther  or  "painter." 
The  cougar  is  the  same  size  and  build  as  the 
Old  World  leopard,  and  with  very  much  the 
same  habits.  One  will  generally  lie  in  wait 
for  the  heifers  or  young  steers  as  they  come 
down  to  water,  and  singling  out  an  animal, 
reach  it  in  a  couple  of  bounds  and  fasten 
its  fangs  in  the  throat  or  neck.  I  have  seen 
quite  a  large  cow  that  had  be'en  killed  by  a 
cougar;  and  on  another  occasion,  while  OHt 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


49 


hunting  over  light  snow,  I  came  across  a 
place  where  two  bucks,  while  fighting,  had 
been  stalked  up  to  by  a  cougar  which  pulled 
down  one  and  tore  him  in  pieces.  The  cou- 
gar's gait  is  silent  and  stealthy  to  an  extraor- 
dinary degree ;  the  look  of  the  animal  when 
creeping  up  to  his  prey  has  been  wonder- 
fully caught  by  the  sculptor,  Kemeys,  in  his 
bronzes:  "The  Still  Hunt"  and  "The 
Silent  Footfall." 

I  have  never  myself  killed  a  cougar, 
though  my  brother  shot  one  in  Texas,  while 
still-hunting  some  deer,  which  the  cougar  it- 
self was  after.  It  never  attacks  man,  and 
even  when  hard  pressed  and  wounded  turns 
to  bay  with  extreme  reluctance,  and  at  the 
first  chance  again  seeks  safety  in  flight.  This 
was  certainly  not  the  case  in  old  times,  but  the 
nature  of  the  animal  has  been  so  changed  by 
constant  contact  with  rifle-bearing  hunters, 
that  timidity  toward  them  has  become  a  he- 
reditary trait  deeply  engrained  in  its  nature. 
When  the  continent  was  first  settled,  and  for 
long  afterward,  the  cougar  was  quite  as  dan- 


50  HUNTING  TRIPS 

gerous  an  antagonist  as  the  African  or  In- 
dian leopard,  and  would  even  attack  men 
unprovoked.  An  instance  of  this  occurred 
in  the  annals  of  my  mother's  family.  Early 
in  the  present  century  one  of  my  ancestral 
relatives,  a  Georgian,  moved  down  to  the 
wild  and  almost  unknown  country  border- 
ing on  Florida.  His  plantation  was  sur- 
rounded by  jungles  in  which  all  kinds  of 
wild  beasts  swarmed.  One  of  his  negroes 
had  a  sweetheart  on  another  plantation,  and 
in  visiting  her,  instead  of  going  by  the  road 
he  took  a  short  cut  through  the  swamps,  heed- 
less of  the  wild  beasts,  and  armed  only  with 
a  long  knife — for  he  was  a  man  of  colossal 
strength,  and  of  fierce  and  determined  tem- 
per. One  night  he  started  to  return  late, 
expecting  to  reach  the  plantation  in  time 
for  his  daily  task  on  the  morrow.  But  he 
never  reached  home,  and  it  was  thought  he 
had  run  away.  However,  when  search  was 
made  for  him  his  body  was  found  in  the 
path  through  the  swamp,  all  gashed  and 
torn,  and  but  a  few  steps  from  him  the  body 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  51 

of  a  cougar,  stabbed  and  cut  in  many  places. 
Certainly  that  must  have  been  a  grim  fight, 
in  the  gloomy,  lonely  recesses  of  the  swamp, 
with  no  one  to  watch  the  midnight  death 
struggle  between  the  powerful,  naked  man 
and  the  ferocious  brute  that  was  his  almost 
unseen  assailant. 

When  hungry,  a  cougar  will  attack  any 
thing  it  can  master.  I  have  known  of  their 
killing  wolves  and  large  dogs.  A  friend  of 
mine,  a  ranchman  in  Wyoming,  had  two 
grizzly  bear  cubs  in  his  possession  at  one 
time,  and  they  were  kept  in  a  pen  outside  the 
ranch.  One  night  two  cougars  came  down, 
and  after  vain  efforts  to  catch  a  dog  which 
was  on  the  place,  leaped  into  the  pen  and 
carried  off  the  two  young  bears! 

Two  or  three  powerful  dogs,  however, 
will  give  a  cougar  all  he  wants  to  do  to 
defend  himself.  A  relative  of  mine  in  one 
of  the  Southern  States  had  a  small  pack 
of  five  blood-hounds,  with  which  he  used  to 
hunt  the  canebrakes  for  bear,  wildcats,  etc. 
On  one  occasion  they  ran  across  a  cougar, 


52  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  after  a  sharp  chase  treed  him.  As  the 
hunters  drew  near  he  leaped  from  the  tree 
and  made  off,  but  was  overtaken  by  the 
hounds  and  torn  to  pieces  after  a  sharp 
struggle  in  which  one  or  two  of  the  pack 
were  badly  scratched. 

Cougars  are  occasionally  killed  by  poison- 
ing, and  they  may  be  trapped  much  more 
easily  than  a  wolf.  I  have  never  known 
them  to  be  systematically  hunted  in  the 
West,  though  now  and  then  one  is  acci- 
dentally run  across  and  killed  with  the  rifle 
while  the  hunter  is  after  some  other  game. 

As  already  said,  ranchmen  do  not  have 
much  idle  time  on  their  hands,  for  their 
duties  are  manifold,  and  they  need  to  be  ever 
on  the  watch  against  their  foes,  both  ani- 
mate and  inanimate.  Where  a  man  has  so 
much  to  do  he  cannot  spare  a  great  deal 
of  his  time  for  any  amusement;  but  a  good 
part  of  that  which  the  ranchman  can  spare 
he  is  very  apt  to  spend  in  hunting.  His 
quarry  will  be  one  of  the  seven  kinds  of 
plains  game — bear,  buffalo,  elk,  bighorn,  an- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  53 

telope,  blacktail  or  whitetail  deer.  Moose, 
caribou,  and  white  goat  never  come  down  into 
the  cattle  country;  and  it  is  only  on  the 
southern  ranches  near  the  Rio  Grande  and 
the  Rio  Colorado  that  the  truculent  peccary 
and  the  great  spotted  jaguar  are  found. 

Until  recently  all  sporting  on  the  plains 
was  confined  to  army  officers,  or  to  men  of 
leisure  who  made  extensive  trips  for  no  other 
purpose;  leaving  out  of  consideration  the 
professional  hunters,  who  trapped  and  shot 
for  their  livelihood.  But  with  the  incom- 
ing of  the  cattle-men,  there  grew  up  a  class 
of  residents,  men  with  a  stake  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  country,  and  with  a  regular  busi- 
ness carried  on  in  it,  many  of  whom  were 
keenly  devoted  to  sport, — a  class  whose  mem- 
bers were  in  many  respects  closely  akin  to 
the  old  Southern  planters.  In  this  book  I 
propose  to  give  some  description  of  the  kind 
of  sport  that  can  be  had  by  the  average 
ranchman  who  is  fond  of  the  rifle.  Of 
course  no  man  with  a  regular  business  can 
have  such  opportunities  as  fall  to  the  lot  of 


54  HUNTING  TRIPS 

some  who  pass  their  lives  in  hunting  only; 
and  we  cannot  pretend  to  equal  the  achieve- 
ments of  such  men,  for  with  us  it  is  merely 
a  pleasure,  to  be  eagerly  sought  after  when 
we  have  the  chance,  but  not  to  be  allowed 
to  interfere  with  our  business.  No  ranch- 
men have  time  to  make  such  extended  trips 
as  are  made  by  some  devotees  of  sport  who 
are  so  fortunate  as  to  have  no  every-day 
work  to  which  to  attend.  Still,  ranch  life 
undoubtedly  offers  more  chance  to  a  man  to 
get  sport  than  is  now  the  case  with  any  other 
occupation  in  America,  and  those  who  fol- 
low it  are  apt  to  be  men  of  game  spirit,  fond 
of  excitement  and  adventure,  who  perforce 
lead  an  open-air  life,  who  must  needs  ride 
well,  for  they  are  often  in  the  saddle  from 
sunrise  to  sunset,  and  who  naturally  take 
kindly  to  that  noblest  of  weapons  the  rifle. 
With  such  men  hunting  is  one  of  the  chief 
of  pleasures;  arid  they  follow  it  eagerly 
when  their  work  will  allow  them.  And  with 
some  of  them  it  is  at  times  more  than  a 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  55 

pleasure.  On  many  of  the  ranches — on  my 
own,  for  instance — the  supply  of  fresh  meat 
depends  mainly  on  the  skill  of  the  riflemen, 
and  so,  both  for  pleasure  and  profit,  most 
ranchmen  do  a  certain  amount  of  hunting 
each  season.  The  buffalo  are  now  gene  for- 
ever, and  the  elk  are  rapidly  sharing  their 
fate;  but  antelope  and  deer  are  still  quite 
plenty,  and  will  remain  so  for  some  years; 
and  these  are  the  common  game  of  the  plains- 
man. Nor  is  it  likely  that  the  game  will  dis- 
appear much  before  ranch  life  itself  is  a  thing 
of  the  past.  It  is  a  phase  of  American  life  as 
fascinating  as  it  is  evanescent,  and  one  well 
deserving  an  historian.  But  in  these  pages 
I  propose  to  dwell  on  only  one  of  its  many 
pleasant  sides,  and  to  give  some  idea  of  the 
game  shooting  which  forms  perhaps  the 
chief  of  the  cattle-man's  pleasures,  aside 
from  those  more  strictly  connected  with  his 
actual  work.  I  have  to  tell  of  no  unusual 
adventures,  but  merely  of  just  such  hunting 
as  lies  within  reach  of  most  of  the  sport- 


56  HUNTING  TRIPS 

loving  ranchmen  whose  cattle  range  along 
the  waters  of  the  Powder  and  the  Bighorn, 
the  Little  Missouri  and  the  Yellowstone. 

Of  course  I  have  never  myself  gone  out 
hunting  under  the  direction  of  a  professional 
guide  or  professional  hunter,  unless  it  was  to 
see  one  of  the  latter  who  was  reputed  a  crack 
shot ;  all  of  my  trips  have  been  made  either 
by  myself  or  else  with  one  of  my  cowboys 
as  a  companion.  Most  of  the  so-called  hunt- 
ers are  not  worth  much.  There  are  plenty 
of  men  hanging  round  the  frontier  settle- 
ments who  claim  to  be  hunters,  and  who 
bedizen  themselves  in  all  the  traditional  finery 
of  the  craft,  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  job 
at  guiding  some  "  tender  foot " ;  and  there 
are  plenty  of  skin-hunters,  or  meat-hunters, 
who,  after  the  Indians  have  been  driven  away 
and  when  means  of  communication  have 
been  established,  mercilessly  slaughter  the 
game  in  season  and  out,  being  too  lazy  to 
work  at  any  regular  trade,  and  keeping  on 
hunting  until  the  animals  become,  too  scarce 
and  shy  to  be  taken  without  more  skill  than 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  57 

they  possess ;  but  these  are  all  mere  tempo- 
rary excrescences,  and  the  true  old  Rocky 
Mountain  hunter  and  trapper,  the  plainsman, 
or  mountain-man,  who,  with  all  his  faults, 
was  a  man  of  iron  nerve  and  will,  is  now  al- 
most a  thing  of  the  past.  In  the  place  of 
these  heroes  of  a  bygone  age,  the  men  who 
were  clad  in  buckskin  and  who  carried  long 
rifles,  stands,  or  rather  rides,  the  bronzed  and 
sinewy  cowboy,  as  picturesque  and  self-reli- 
ant, as  dashing  and  resolute  as  the  saturnine 
Indian  fighters  whose  place  he  has  taken; 
and,  alas  that  it  should  be  written !  he  in  his 
turn  must  at  no  distant  time  share  the  fate  of 
the  men  he  has  displaced.  The  ground  over 
which  he  so  gallantly  rides  his  small,  wiry 
horse  will  soon  know  him  no  more,  and  in  his 
stead  there  will  be  the  plodding  grangers  and 
husbandmen.  I  suppose  it  is  right  and  for 
the  best  that  the  great  cattle  country,  with  its 
broad  extent  of  fenceless  land,  over  which 
the  ranchman  rides  as  free  as  the  game  that 
he  follows  or  the  horned  herds  that  he 
guards,  should  be  in  the  end  broken  up  into 


58  HUNTING  TRIPS 

small  patches  of  fenced  farm  land  and  graz- 
ing land;  but  I  hope  against  hope  that  I 
myself  shall  not  live  to  see  this  take  place, 
for  when  it  does  one  of  the  pleasantest  and 
freest  phases  of  western  American  life  will 
have  come  to  an  end. 

The  old  hunters  were  a  class  by  themselves. 
They  penetrated,  alone  or  in  small  parties,  to 
the  farthest  and  wildest  haunts  of  the  ani- 
mals they  followed,  leading  a  solitary,  lonely 
life,  often  never  seeing  a  white  face  for 
months  and  even  years  together.  They  were 
skilful  shots,  and  were  cool,  daring,  and  reso- 
lute to  the  verge  of  recklessness.  On  any 
thing  like  even  terms  they  very  greatly  over- 
matched the  Indians  by  whom  they  were  sur- 
rounded, and  with  whom  they  waged  con- 
stant and  ferocious  war.  In  the  govern- 
ment expeditions  against  the  plains  tribes 
they  were  of  absolutely  invaluable  assistance 
as  scouts.  They  rarely  had  regular  wives  or 
white  children,  and  there  are  none  to  take 
their  places,  now  that  the  greater  part  of  them 
have  gone.  For  the  men  who  carry  on  hunt- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  59 

ing  as  a  business  where  it  is  perfectly  safe 
have  all  the  vices  of  their  prototypes,  but, 
not  having  to  face  the  dangers  that  beset  the 
latter,  so  neither  need  nor  possess  the  stern, 
rough  virtues  that  were  required  in  order  to 
meet  and  overcome  them.  The  ranks  of  the 
skin-hunters  and  meat-hunters  contain  some 
good  men ;  but  as  a  rule  they  are  a  most  un- 
lovely race  of  beings,  not  excelling  even  in 
the  pursuit  which  they  follow  because  they 
are  too  shiftless  to  do  anything  else;  and 
the  sooner  they  vanish  the  better. 

A  word  as  to  weapons  and  hunting  dress. 
When  I  first  came  to  the  plains  I  had  a  heavy 
Sharps  rifle,  45 — 120,  shooting  an  ounce  and 
a  quarter  of  lead,  and  a  5O-calibre,  double- 
barrelled  English  express.  Both  of  these, 
especially  the  latter,  had  a  vicious  recoil ;  the 
former  was  very  clumsy ;  and  above  all  they 
were  neither  of  them  repeaters;  for  a  re- 
peater or  magazine  gun  is  as  much  superior 
to  a  single  or  double-barrelled  breech-loader 
as  the  latter  is  to  a  muzzle-loader.  I  threw 
them  both  aside :  and  have  instead  a  40 — 90 


60  HUNTING  TRIPS 

Sharps  for  very  long  range  work;  a  50 — 115 
6-shot  Bullard  express,  which  has  the  veloc- 
ity, shock,  and  low  trajectory  of  the  English 
gun ;  and,  better  than  either,  a  45 — 75  half- 
magazine  Winchester.  The  Winchester, 
which  is  stocked  and  sighted  to  suit  myself, 
is  by  all  odds  the  best  weapon  I  ever  had,  and 
I  now  use  it  almost  exclusively,  having  killed 
every  kind  of  game  with  it,  from  a  grizzly- 
bear  to  a  big-horn.  It  is  as  handy  to  carry, 
whether  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  and  comes 
up  to  the  shoulder  as  readily  as  a  shot-gun ; 
it  is  absolutely  sure,  and  there  is  no  recoil  to 
jar  and  disturb  the  aim,  while  it  carries  ac- 
curately quite  as  far  as  a  man  can  aim  with 
any  degree  of  certainty;  and  the  bullet, 
weighing  three  quarters  of  an  ounce,  is 
plenty  large  enough  for  any  thing  on  this 
continent.  For  shooting  the  very  large  game 
(buffalo,  elephants,  etc.)  of  India  and  South 
Africa,  much  heavier  rifles  are  undoubtedly 
necessary ;  but  the  Winchester  is  the  best  gun 
for  any  game  to  be  found  in  the  United 
States,  for  it  is  as  deadly,  accurate,  and 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  61 

handy  as  any,  stands  very  rough  usage,  and 
is  unapproachable  for  the  rapidity  of  its  fire 
and  the  facility  with  which  it  is  loaded. 

Of  course  every  ranchman  carries  a  re- 
volver, a  long  45  Colt  or  Smith  &  Wesson, 
by  preference  the  former.  When  after  game 
a  hunting-knife  is  stuck  in  the  girdle.  This 
should  be  stout  and  sharp,  but  not  too  long, 

with  a  round  handle.     I  have  two  double- 

« 

barrelled  shot-guns:  a  No.  10  choke-bore 
for  ducks  and  geese,  made  by  Thomas  of 
Chicago;  and  a  No.  16  hammerless,  built 
for  me  by  Kennedy  of  St.  Paul,  for  grouse 
and  plover.  On  regular  hunting  trips  I  al- 
ways carry  the  Winchester  rifle ;  but  in  rid- 
ing round  near  home,  where  a  man  may  see 
a  deer  and  is  sure  to  come  across  ducks  and 
grouse,  it  is  best  to  take  the  little  ranch  gun, 
a  double-barrel  No.  16,  with  a  40—70  rifle 
underneath  the  shot-gun  barrels. 

As  for  clothing,  when  only  off  on  a  day's 
trip,  the  ordinary  ranchman's  dress  is  good 
enough:  flannel  shirt,  and  overalls  tucked 
into  alligator  boots,  the  latter  being  of  serv- 


62  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ice  against  the  brambles,  cacti,  and  rattle- 
snakes. Such  a  costume  is  good  in  warm 
weather.  When  making  a  long  hunting  trip, 
where  there  will  be  much  rough  work,  espe- 
cially in  the  dry  cold  of  fall  and  winter, 
there  is  nothing  better  than  a  fringed  buck- 
skin tunic  or  hunting-shirt,  (held  in  at  the 
waist  by  the  cartridge  belt,)  buckskin 
trousers,  and  a  fur  cap,  with  heavy  moc- 
casins for  use  in  the  woods,  and  light  alli- 
gator-hide shoes  if  it  is  intended  to  cross 
rocks  and  open  ground.  Buckskin  is  most 
durable,  keeps  out  wind  and  cold,  and  is  the 
best  possible  color  for  the  hunter — no  small 
point  in  approaching  game.  For  wet  it  is 
not  as  good  as  flannel,  and  it  is  hot  in  warm 
weather.  On  very  cold  days,  fur  gloves  and 
either  a  coon-skin  overcoat  or  a  short  rid- 
ing jacket  of  fisher's  fur  may  be  worn.  In 
cold  weather,  if  travelling  light  with  only 
what  can  be  packed  behind  the  horse,  I  sleep 
in  a  big  buffalo-robe,  sewed  up  at  the  sides 
and  one  end  into  the  form  of  a  bag,  and 
very  warm.  When,  as  is  sometimes  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  63 

case,  the  spirit  in  the  thermometer  sinks  to 
—60° — 65°  Fahrenheit,  it  is  necessary  to 
have  more  wraps  and  bedding,  and  we  use 
beaver-robes  and  bear-skins.  An  oilskin 
44  slicker  "  or  waterproof  overcoat  and  a  pair 
of  shaps  keep  out  the  rain  almost  completly. 
Where  most  of  the  hunting  is  done  on 
horseback  the  hunting-pony  is  a  very  im- 
portant animal.  Many  people  seem  to  think 
that  any  broken-down  pony  will  do  to  hunt, 
but  this  seems  to  me  a  very  great  mistake. 
My  own  hunting-horse,  Manitou,  is  the  best 
and  most  valuable  animal  on  the  ranch.  He 
is  stoutly  built  and  strong,  able  to  carry  a 
good-sized  buck  behind  his  rider  for  miles  at 
a  lope  without  minding  it  in  the  least ;  he  is 
very  enduring  and  very  hardy,  not  only  pick- 
ing up  a  living  but  even  growing  fat  when 
left  to  shift  for  himself  under  very  hard 
conditions;  and  he  is  perfectly  surefooted 
and  as  fast  as  any  horse  on  the  river. 
Though  both  willing  and  spirited,  he  is  very 
gentle,  with  an  easy  mouth,  and  will  stay 
grazing  in  one  spot  when  left,  and  will  per- 


64  HUNTING  TRIPS 

mit  himself  to  be  caught  without  difficulty. 
Add  to  these  virtues  the  fact  that  he  will  let 
any  dead  beast  or  thing  be  packed  on  him, 
and  will  allow  a  man  to  shoot  off  his  back 
or  right  by  him  without  moving,  and  it  is 
evident  that  he  is  as  nearly  perfect  as  can 
be  the  case  with  hunting-horseflesh.  There 
is  a  little  sorrel  mare  on  the  ranch,  a  per- 
fect little  pet,  that  is  almost  as  good,  but 
too  small.  We  have  some  other  horses  we 
frequently  use,  but  all  have  faults.  Some 
of  the  quiet  ones  are  slow,  lazy,  or  tire  easily ; 
others  are  gun  shy;  while  others  plunge  and 
buck  if  we  try  to  pack  any  game  on  their 
backs.  Others  cannot  be  left  standing  un- 
tied, as  they  run  away;  and  I  can  imagine 
few  forms  of  exercise  so  soul-harrowing 
as  that  of  spending  an  hour  or  two  in  run- 
ning, in  shaps,  top  boots,  and  spurs  over  a 
broken  prairie,  with  the  thermometer  at 
90°,  after  an  escaped  horse.  Most  of  the 
hunting-horses  used  by  my  friends  have  one 
or  more  of  these  tricks,  and  it  is  rare  to 
find  one,  like  Manitou,  who  has  none  of  them. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  65 

Manitou  is  a  treasure  and  I  value  him  ac- 
cordingly. Besides,  he  is  a  sociable  old  fel- 
low, and  a  great  companion  when  off  alone, 
coming  up  to  have  his  head  rubbed  or  to 
get  a  crust  of  bread,  of  which  he  is  very 
fond. 

To  be  remarkably  successful  in  killing 
game  a  man  must  be  a  good  shot;  but  a 
good  target  shot  may  be  a  very  poor  hunter, 
and  a  fairly  successful  hunter  may  be  only 
a  moderate  shot.  Shooting  well  with  the 
rifle  is  the  highest  kind  of  skill,  for  the  rifle 
is  the  queen  of  weapons ;  and  it  is  a  difficult 
art  to  learn.  But  many  other  qualities  go 
to  make  up  the  first-class  hunter.  He  must 
be  persevering,  watchful,  hardy,  and  with 
good  judgment ;  and  a  little  dash  and  energy 
at  the  proper  time  often  help  him  immensely. 
I  myself  am  not,  and  never  will  be,  more 
than  an  ordinary  shot;  for  my  eyes  are  bad 
and  my  hand  not  over-steady;  yet  I  have 
1  every  kind  of  game  to  be  found  on 
the  plains,  partly  because  I  have  hunted  very 
perseveringly,  and  partly  because  by  prac- 


66  HUNTING  TRIPS 

tice  I  have  learned  to  shoot  about  as  well 
at  a  wild  animal  as  at  a  target.  I  have  killed 
rather  more  game  than  most  of  the  ranch- 
men who  are  my  neighbors,  though  at  least 
half  of  them  are  better  shots  than  I  am. 

Time  and  again  I  have  seen  a  man  who 
had,  as  he  deemed,  practised  sufficiently  at 
a  target,  come  out  "  to  kill  a  deer  "  hot  with 
enthusiasm;  and  nine  out  of  ten  times  he 
has  gone  back  unsuccessful,  even  when  deer 
were  quite  plenty.  Usually  he  has  been  told 
by  the  friend  who  advised  him  to  take  the 
trip,  or  by  the  guide  who  inveigled  him  into 
it,  that  "  the  deer  were  so  plenty  you  saw 
them  all  round  you,"  and,  this  not  proving 
quite  true,  he  lacks  perseverance  to  keep  on ; 
or  else  he  fails  to  see  the  deer  at  the  right 
time ;  or  else  if  he  does  see  it  he  misses  it, 
making  the  discovery  that  to  shoot  at  a  gray 
object,  not  over-distinctly  seen,  at  a  dis- 
tance merely  guessed  at,  and  with  a  back- 
ground of  other  gray  objects,  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  firing  into  a  target,  brightly 
painted  and  a  fixed  number  of  yards  off. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  67 

A  man  must  be  able  to  hit  a  bull's-eye  eight 
inches  across  every  time  to  do  good  work 
with  deer  or  other  game ;  for  the  spot  around 
the  shoulders  that  is  fatal  is  not  much  bigger 
than  this;  and  a  shot  a  little  back  of  that 
merely  makes  a  wound  which  may  in  the  end 
prove  mortal,  but  which  will  in  all  probabil- 
ity allow  the  animal  to  escape  for  the  time  be- 
ing. It  takes  a  good  shot  to  hit  a  bull's-eye 
off-hand  several  times  in  succession  at  a 
hundred  yards,  and  if  the  bull's-eye  was 
painted  the  same  color  as  the  rest  of  the 
landscape,  and  was  at  an  uncertain  distance, 
and,  moreover,  was  alive,  and  likely  to  take 
to  its  heels  at  any  moment,  the  difficulty 
of  making  a  good  shot  would  be  greatly  en- 
hanced. The  man  who  can  kill  his  buck 
right  along  at  a  hundred  yards  has  a  right 
to  claim  that  he  is  a  good  shot.  If  he  can 
shoot  off-hand  standing  up,  that  is  much  the 
best  way,  but  I  myself  always  drop  on  one 
knee,  if  I  have  time,  unless  the  animal  is 
very  close.  It  is  curious  to  hear  the  non- 
sense that  is  talked  and  to  see  the  nonsense 


68  HUNTING  TRIPS 

that  is  written  about  the  distances  at  which 
game  is  killed.  Rifles  now  carry  with  deadly 
effect  the  distance  of  a  mile,  and  most  mid- 
dle-range hunting-rifles  would  at  least  kill  at 
half  a  mile ;  and  in  war  firing  is  often  begun 
at  these  ranges.  But  in  war  there  is  very 
little  accurate  aiming,  and  the  fact  that  there 
is  a  variation  of  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  the 
flight  of  the  ball  makes  no  difference;  and, 
finally,  a  thousand  bullets  are  fired  for  every 
man  that  is  killed — and  usually  many  more 
than  a  thousand.  How  would  that  serve  for 
a  record  on  game?  The  truth  is  that  three 
hundred  yards  is  a  very  long  shot,  and  that 
even  two  hundred  yards  is  a  long  shot.  On 
looking  over  my  game-book  I  find  that  the 
average  distance  at  which  I  have  killed  game 
on  the  plains  is  less  than  a  hundred  and 
fifty  yards.  A  few  years  ago,  when  the  buf- 
falo would  stand  still  in  great  herds,  half  a 
mile  from  the  hunter,  the  latter,  using  a 
long-range  Sharp's  rifle,  would  often,  by 
firing  a  number  of  shots  into  the  herd  at 
that  distance,  knock  over  two  or  three  btif- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  69 

falo;  but  I  have  hardly  ever  known  single 
animals  to  be  killed  six  hundred  yards  off, 
even  in  antelope  hunting,  tne  kind  in  which 
most  long-range  shooting  is  done;  and  at 
half  that  distance  a  very  good  shot,  with  all 
the  surroundings  in  his  favor,  is  more  apt 
to  miss  than  to  hit.  Of  course  old  hunters 
— the  most  inveterate  liars  on  the  face  of  the 
earth — are  all  the  time  telling  of  their  won- 
derful shots  at  even  longer  distances,  and 
they  do  occasionally,  when  shooting  very 
often,  make  them,  but  their  performances, 
when  actually  tested,  dwindle  amazingly. 
Others,  amateurs,  will  brag  of  their  rifles. 
I  lately  read  in  a  magazine  about  killing  an- 
telopes at  eight  hundred  yards  with  a  Win- 
chester express,  a  weapon  which  cannot  be 
depended  upon  at  over  two  hundred,  and  is 
wholly  inaccurate  at  over  three  hundred, 
yards. 

The  truth  is  that,  in  almost  all  cases  the 
hunter  merely  guesses  at  the  distance,  and, 
often  perfectly  honestly,  just  about  doubles 
it  in  his  ow-n  mind.  Once  a  man  told  me 


7o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

of  an  extraordinary  shot  by  which  he  killed 
a  deer  at  four  hundred  yards.  A  couple  of 
days  afterward  we  happened  to  pass  the 
place,  and  I  had  the  curiosity  to  step  off 
the  distance,  finding  it  a  trifle  over  a  hundred 
and  ninety.  I  always  make  it  a  rule  to  pace 
off  the  distance  after  a  successful  shot,  when- 
ever practicable — that  is,  when  the  animal 
has  not  run  too  far  before  dropping, — and  I 
was  at  first  both  amused  and  somewhat 
chagrined  to  see  how  rapidly  what  I  had 
supposed  to  be  remarkably  long  shots  shrank 
under  actual  pacing.  It  is  a  good  rule  al- 
ways to  try  to  get  as  near  the  game  as  pos- 
sible, and  in  most  cases  it  is  best  to  risk 
startling  it  in  the  effort  to  get  closer  rather 
than  to  risk  missing  it  by  a  shot  at  long 
range.  At  the  same  time,  I  am  a  great  be- 
liever in  powder-burning,  and  if  I  cannot 
get  near,  will  generally  try  a  shot  anyhow, 
if  there  is  a  chance  of  the  rifle's  carrying  to 
it.  In  this  way  a  man  will  now  and  then, 
in  the  midst  of  many  misses,  make  a  very 
good  long  shot,  but  he  should  not  try  to 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  71 

deceive  himself  into  the  belief  that  these  oc- 
casional long  shots  are  to  be  taken  as  sam- 
ples of  his  ordinary  skill.  Yet  it  is  curious 
to  see  how  a  really  truthful  man  will  forget 
his  misses,  and  his  hits  at  close  quarters, 
and,  by  dint  of  constant  repetition,  will  fi- 
nally persuade  himself  that  he  is  in  the  habit 
of  killing  his  game  at  three  or  four  hundred 
yards.  Of  course  in  different  kinds  of 
ground  the  average  range  for  shooting  va- 
ries. In  the  Bad  Lands  most  shots  will  be 
obtained  much  closer  than  on  the  prairie, 
and  in  the  timber  they  will  be  nearer  still. 
Old  hunters  who  are  hardy,  persevering, 
and  well  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the 
animals  they  pursue,  will  often  kill  a  great 
deal  of  game  without  being  particularly  good 
marksmen;  besides,  they  are  careful  to  get 
up  close,  and  are  not  flurried  at  all,  shooting 
as  well  at  a  deer  as  they  do  at  a  target. 
They  are,  as  a  rule,  fair  shots — that  is,  they 
shoot  a  great  deal  better  than  Indians  or 
soldiers,  or  than  the  general  run  of  Eastern 
amateur  sportsmen;  but  I  have  never  been 


?2  HUNTING  TRIPS 

out  with  one  who  has  not  missed  a  great 
deal,  and  the  "  Leather-stocking "  class  of 
shooting  stories  are  generally  untrue,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  suppressing  part  of  the 
truth — that  is,  the  number  of  misses.  Be- 
yond question  our  Western  hunters  are,  as 
a  body,  to  the  full  as  good  marksmen  as, 
and  probably  much  better  than,  any  other 
body  of  men  in  the  world,  not  even  excepting 
the  Dutch  Boers  or  Tyrolese  Jagers,  and  a 
certain  number  of  them  who  shoot  a  great 
deal  at  game,  and  are  able  to  squander 
cartridges  very  freely,  undoubtedly  become 
crack  shots,  and  perform  really  wonderful 
feats.  As  an  instance  there  is  old  "  Vic," 
a  former  scout  and  Indian  fighter,  and  con- 
cededly  the  best  hunter  on  the  Little  Mis- 
souri; probably  there  are  not  a  dozen  men 
in  the  West  who  are  better  shots  or  hunters 
than  he  is,  and  I  have  seen  him  do  most  skil- 
ful work.  He  can  run  the  muzzle  of  his 
rifle  through  a  board  so  as  to  hide  the  sights, 
and  yet  do  quite  good  shooting  at  some 
little  distance;  he  will  cut  the  head  off  a 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  73 

chicken  at  eighty  or  ninety  yards,  shoot  a 
deer  running  through  brush  at  that  distance, 
kill  grouse  on  the  wing  early  in  the  season, 
and  knock  over  antelopes  when  they  are 
so  far  off  that  I  should  not  dream  of  shoot- 
ing. He  firmly  believes,  and  so  do  most  men 
that  speak  of  him,  that  he  never  misses.  Yet 
I  have  known  him  make  miss  after  miss  at 
game,  and  some  that  were  not  such  especially 
difficult  shots  either.  One  secret  of  his  suc- 
cess is  his  constant  practice.  He  is  firing 
all  the  time,  at  marks,  small  birds,  etc.,  etc., 
and  will  average  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
cartridges  a  day;  he  certainly  uses  nearly 
twenty  thousand  a  year,  while  a  man  who 
only  shoots  for  sport,  and  that  occasionally, 
will,  in  practising  at  marks  and  every  thing 
else,  hardly  get  through  with  five  hundred. 
Besides,  he  was  cradled  in  the  midst  of  wild 
life,  and  has  handled  a  rifle  and  used  it 
against  both  brute  and  human  foes  almost 
since  his  infancy ;  his  nerves  and  sinews  are 
like  iron,  and  his  eye  is  naturally  both  quick 
and  true. 


74  HUNTING  TRIPS 

Vic  is  an  exception.  With  practice  an 
amateur  will  become  nearly  as  good  a  shot 
as  the  average  hunter;  and,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, I  do  not  myself  believe  in  taking  out  a 
professional  hunter  as  a  shooting  companion. 
If  I  do  not  go  alone  I  generally  go  with  one 
of  my  foremen,  Merrifield,  who  himself  came 
from  the  East  but  five  years  ago.  He  is  a 
good-looking  fellow,  daring  and  self-reliant, 
a  good  rider  and  first-class  shot,  and  a  very 
keen  sportsman.  Of  late  years  he  has  been 
my  fidus  Achates  of  the  hunting  field.  I  can 
kill  more  game  with  him  than  I  can  alone; 
and  in  hunting  on  the  plains  there  are  many 
occasions  on  which  it  is  almost  a  necessity 
to  have  a  companion  along. 

It  frequently  happens  that  a  solitary 
hunter  finds  himself  in  an  awkward  predica- 
ment, from  which  he  could  be  extricated 
easily  enough  if  there  were  another  man 
with  him.  His  horse  may  fall  into  a  wash- 
out, or  may  get  stuck  in  a  mud-hole  or 
quicksand  in  such  a  manner  that  a  man 
working  by  himself  will  have  great  difficulty 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  75 

in  getting  it  out ;  and  two  heads  often  prove 
better  than  one  in  an  emergency,  especially 
if  a  man  gets  hurt  in  any  way.  The  first 
thing  that  a  western  plainsman  has  to  learn 
is  the  capacity  for  self-help,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  must  not  forget  that  occasions  may 
arise  when  the  help  of  others  will  be  most 
grateful. 


CHAPTER  II 

WATERFOWL 

ONE  cool  afternoon  in  the  early  fall, 
while  sitting  on  the  veranda  of  the 
ranchhouse,  we  heard  a  long  way  off  the 
ha-ha-honk,  ha-honk,  of  a  gang  of  wild 
geese;  and  shortly  afterward  they  came  in 
sight,  in  a  V-shaped  line,  flying  low  and 
heavily  toward  the  south,  along  the  course 
of  the  stream.  They  went  by  within  a  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  house,  and  we  watched 
them  for  some  minutes  as  they  flew  up  the 
valley,  for  they  were  so  low  in  the  air  that  it 
seemed  certain  that  they  would  soon  alight; 
and  light  they  did  when  they  were  less  than 
a  mile  past  us.  As  the  ground  was  flat  and 
without  much  cover  where  they  had  settled, 
I  took  the  rifle  instead  of  a  shot-gun  and 
hurried  after  them  on  foot.  Wild  geese  are 

76 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  77 

very  watchful  and  wary,  and  as  I  came 
toward  the  place  where  I  thought  they  were 
1  crept  along  with  as  much  caution  as  if  the 
game  had  been  a  deer.  At  last,  peering 
through  a  thick  clump  of  bullberry  bushes 
I  saw  them.  They  were  clustered  on  a  high 
sandbar  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  which 
here  ran  in  a  very  wide  bed  between  low 
banks.  The  only  way  to  get  at  them  was  to 
crawl  along  the  river-bed,  which  was  partly 
dry,  using  the  patches  of  rushes  and  the 
sand  hillocks  and  drift-wood  to  shield  my- 
self from  their  view.  As  it  was  already  late 
and  the  sun  was  just  sinking,  I  hastily  re- 
treated a  few  paces,  dropped  over  the  bank, 
and  began  to  creep  along  on  my  hands  and 
knees  through  the  sand  and  gravel.  Such 
work  is  always  tiresome,  and  it  is  especially 
so  when  done  against  time.  I  kept  in  line 
with  a  great  log  washed  up  on  the  shore, 
which  was  some  seventy-five  yards  from  the 
geese.  On  reaching  it  and  looking  over  I 
was  annoyed  to  find  that  in  the  fading 
light  I  could  not  distinguish  the  birds  clearly 


78  HUNTING  TRIPS 

enough  to  shoot,  as  the  dark  river  bank  was 
behind  them.  I  crawled  quickly  back  a  few 
yards,  and  went  off  a  good  bit  to  the  left  into 
a  hollow.  Peeping  over  the  edge  I  could 
now  see  the  geese,  gathered  into  a  clump 
with  their  necks  held  straight  out,  sharply 
outlined  against  the  horizon ;  the  sand  flats 
stretching  out  on  either  side,  while  the  sky 
above  was  barred  with  gray  and  faint  crim- 
son. I  fired  into  the  thickest  of  the  bunch, 
and  as  the  rest  flew  off,  with  discordant 
clamor,  ran  forward  and  picked  up  my  vic- 
tim, a  fat  young  wild  goose  (or  Canada 
goose),  the  body  badly  torn  by  the  bullet. 

On  two  other  occasions  I  have  killed  geese 
with  the  rifle.  Once  while  out  riding  along 
the  river  bottoms,  just  at  dawn,  my  atten- 
tion was  drawn  to  a  splashing  and  low  cack- 
ling in  the  stream,  where  the  water  deepened 
in  a  wide  bend,  which  swept  round  a  low 
bluff.  Leaving  my  horse  where  he  was, 
I  walked  off  towards  the  edge  of  the  stream, 
and  lying  on  the  brink  of  the  bank  looked 
over  into  the  water  of  the  bend.  Only  a 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  79 

faint  streak  of  light  was  visible  in  the  east, 
so  that  objects  on  the  water  could  hardly  be 
made  out ;  and  the  little  wreaths  of  mist  that 
rose  from  the  river  made  the  difficulty  even 
greater.  The  birds  were  some  distance 
above  me,  where  the  water  made  a  long 
straight  stretch  through  a  sandy  level.  I 
could  not  see  them,  but  could  plainly  hear 
their  low  murmuring  and  splashing,  and 
once  one  of  them,  as  I  judged  by  the  sound, 
stood  up  on  end  and  flapped  its  wings  vigor- 
ously. Pretty  soon  a  light  puff  of  wind 
blew  the  thin  mist  aside,  and  I  caught  a 
glimpse  of  them;  as  I  had  supposed,  they 
were  wild  geese,  five  of  them,  swimming 
slowly,  or  rather  resting  on  the  water,  and 
being  drifted  down  with  the  current.  The 
fog  closed  over  them  again,  but  it  was  grow- 
ing light  very  rapidly,  and  in  a  short  time 
I  knew  they  would  be  in  the  still  water  of  the 
bend  just  below  me,  so  I  rose  on  my  elbows 
and  held  my  rifle  ready  at  the  poise.  In  a 
few  minutes,  before  the  sun  was  above  the 
horizon,  but  when  there  was  plenty  of  light 


8o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

by  which  to  shoot,  another  eddy  in  the  wind 
blew  away  the  vapor  and  showed  the  five 
geese  in  a  cluster,  some  thirty  yards  off.  I 
fired  at  once,  and  one  of  the  geese,  kicking 
and  flapping  frantically,  fell  over,  its  neck 
half  cut  from  the  body,  while  the  others, 
with  laborious  effort,  got  under  way.  Be- 
fore they  could  get  their  heavy  bodies  fairly 
off  the  water  and  out  of  range,  I  had  taken 
three  more  shots,  but  missed.  Waiting  till 
the  dead  goose  drifted  into  shore,  I  picked 
it  up  and  tied  it  on  the  saddle  of  my  horse 
to  carry  home  to  the  ranch.  Being  young 
and  fat  it  was  excellent  eating. 

The  third  goose  I  killed  with  the  rifle  was 
of  a  different  kind.  I  had  been  out  after 
antelopes,  starting  before  there  was  any 
light  in  the  heavens,  and  pushing  straight 
out  towards  the  rolling  prairie.  After  two 
or  three  hours,  when  the  sun  was  well  up, 
I  neared  where  a  creek  ran  in  a  broad,  shal- 
low valley.  I  had  seen  no  game,  and  before 
coming  up  to  the  crest  of  the  divide  beyond 
which  lay  the  creek  bottom,  I  dismounted 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  81 

and  crawled  up  to  it,  so  as  to  see  if  any  ani- 
mal had  come  down  to  drink.  Field  glasses 
are  almost  always  carried  while  hunting  on 
the  plains,  as  the  distances  at  which  one  can 
see  game  are  so  enormous.  On  looking  over 
the  crest  with  the  glasses  the  valley  of  the 
creek  for  about  a  mile  was  stretched  before 
me.  At  my  feet  the  low  hills  came  closer 
together  than  in  other  places,  and  shelved 
abruptly  down  to  the  bed  of  the  valley, 
where  there  was  a  small  grove  of  box-alders 
and  cotton-woods.  The  beavers  had,  in 
times  gone  by,  built  a  large  dam  at  this 
place  across  the  creek,  which  must  have  pro- 
duced a  great  back-flow  and  made  a  regular 
little  lake  in  the  times  of  freshets  But  the 
dam  was  now  broken,  and  the  beavers,  or 
most  of  them,  gone,  and  in  the  place  of  the 
lake  was  a  long  green  meadow.  Glancing 
toward  this  my  eye  was  at  once  caught  by 
a  row  of  white  objects  stretched  straight 
across  it,  and  another  look  showed  me  that 
they  were  snow-geese.  They  were  feeding, 
and  were  moving  abreast  of  one  another 


82  HUNTING  TRIPS 

slowly  down  the  length  of  the  meadow  to- 
wards the  end  nearest  me,  where  the  patch 
of  small  trees  and  brushwood  lay.  A  goose 
is  not  as  big  game  as  an  antelope;  still  I 
had  never  shot  a  snow-goose,  and  we  needed 
fresh  meat,  so  I  slipped  back  over  the  crest 
and  ran  down  to  the  bed  of  the  creek,  round 
a  turn  of  the  hill,  where  the  geese  were  out 
of  sight.  The  creek  was  not  an  entirely  dry 
one,  but  there  was  no  depth  of  water  in  it 
except  in  certain  deep  holes;  elsewhere  it 
was  a  muddy  ditch  with  steep  sides,  difficult 
to  cross  on  horseback  because  of  the  quick- 
sands. I  walked  up  to  the  trees  without  any 
special  care,  as  they  screened  me  from  view, 
and  looked  cautiously  out  from  behind  them. 
The  geese  were  acting  just  as  our  tame  geese 
act  in  feeding  on  a  common,  moving  along 
with  their  necks  stretched  out  before  them, 
nibbling  and  jerking  at  the  grass  as  they 
tore  it  up  by  mouthfuls.  They  were  very 
watchful,  and  one  or  the  other  of  them  had 
its  head  straight  in  the  air  looking  sharply 
round  all  the  time.  Geese  will  not  come 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  83 

near  any  cover  in  which  foes  may  be  lurking 
if  they  can  help  it,  and  so  I  feared  that  they 
would  turn  before  coming  near  enough  to 
the  brush  to  give  me  a  good  shot.  I  there- 
fore dropped  into  the  bed  of  the  creek, 
which  wound  tortuously  along  the  side  of  the 
meadow,  and  crept  on  all  fours  along  one 
of  its  banks  until  I  came  to  where  it  made  a 
loop  out  towards  the  middle  of  the  bottom. 
Here  there  was  a  tuft  of  tall  grass,  which 
served  as  a  good  cover,  and  I  stood  upright, 
dropping  my  hat,  and  looking  through  be- 
tween the  blades.  The  geese,  still  in  a  row, 
with  several  yards*  interval  between  each 
one  and  his  neighbor,  were  only  sixty  or 
seventy  yards  off,  still  feeding  towards  me. 
They  came  along  quite  slowly,  and  the  ones 
nearest,  with  habitual  suspicion,  edged  away 
from  the  scattered  tufts  of  grass  and  weeds 
which  marked  the  brink  of  the  creek.  I 
tried  to  get  two  in  line,  but  could  not. 
There  was  one  gander  much  larger  than 
any  other  bird  in  the  lot,  though  not  the 
closest  to  me;  as  he  went  by  just  opposite 


84  HUNTING  TRIPS 

my  hiding-place,  he  stopped  still,  broadside 
to  me,  and  I  aimed  just  at  the  root  of  the 
neck — for  he  was  near  enough  for  any  one 
firing  a  rifle  from  a  rest  to  hit  him  about 
where  he  pleased.  Away  flew  the  others, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  I  was  riding  along 
with  the  white  gander  dangling  behind  my 
saddle. 

The  beaver  meadows  spoken  of  above  are 
not  common,  but,  until  within  the  last  two 
or  three  years,  beavers  themselves  were  very 
plentiful,  and  there  are  still  a  good  many 
left.  Although  only  settled  for  so  short  a 
period,  the  land  has  been  known  to  hunt- 
ers for  half  a  century,  and  throughout  that 
time  it  has  at  intervals  been  trapped  over 
by  whites  or  half-breeds.  If  fur  was  high 
and  the  Indians  peaceful  quite  a  number  of 
trappers  would  come  in,  for  the  Little  Mis- 
souri Bad  Lands  were  always  famous  both 
for  fur  and  game;  then  if  fur  went  down, 
or  an  Indian  war  broke  out,  or  if  the  beaver 
got  pretty  well  thinned  out,  the  place  would 
be  forsaken  and  the  animals  would  go  un- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  85 

molested  for  perhaps  a  dozen  years,  when 
the  process  would  be  repeated.  But  the  in- 
coming of  the  settlers  and  the  driving  out 
of  the  Indians  have  left  the  ground  clear  for 
the  trappers  to  work  over  unintermittently, 
and  the  extinction  of  the  beaver  throughout 
the  plains  country  is  a  question  of  but  a  short 
time.  Excepting  an  occasional  otter  or 
mink,  or  a  few  musk-rats,  it  is  the  only  fur- 
bearing  animal  followed  by  the  western 
plains  trapper;  and  its  large  size  and  the 
marked  peculiarities  of  its  habits,  together 
with  the  accessibility  of  its  haunts  on  the 
plains,  as  compared  with  its  haunts  in  the 
deep  woods  and  mountains,  render  its  pur- 
suit and  capture  comparatively  easy.  We 
have  trapped  (or  occasionally  shot)  on  the 
ranch  during  the  past  three  years  several 
score  beaver ;  the  fur  is  paler  and  less  valua- 
ble than  in  the  forest  animal.  Those  that 
live  in  the  river  do  not  build  dams  all  across 
it,  but  merely  extending  up  some  distance 
against  the  current,  so  as  to  make  a  deep 
pool  or  eddy,  beside  which  are  the  burrows 


86  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  houses.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  simple 
feat  to  break  into  a  beaver  house,  but  in  re- 
ality it  needs  no  little  toil  with  both  spade 
and  axe,  for  the  house  has  very  thick  roof 
and  walls,  made  of  clay  and  tough  branches, 
twisted  together  into  a  perfect  mat,  which, 
when  frozen,  can  withstand  any  thing  but 
the  sharpest  and  best  of  tools.  At  evening 
beaver  often  come  out  to  swim,  and  by 
waiting  on  the  plank  perfectly  quietly  for 
an  hour  or  so  a  close  shot  can  frequently  be 
obtained. 

Beaver  are  often  found  in  the  creeks,  not 
only  in  those  which  always  contain  running 
water,  but  also  in  the  dry  ones.  Here  they 
build  dams  clean  across,  making  ponds  which 
always  contain  water,  even  if  the  rest  of 
the  bed  is  almost  dry;  and  I  have  often 
been  surprised  to  find  fresh  traces  of  beaver 
in  a  pond  but  a  few  feet  across,  a  mile  away 
from  any  other  body  of  water.  On  one  oc- 
casion I  was  deer-hunting  in  a  rough, 
broken  country,  which  was  little  more  than 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  87 

a  tangle  of  ravines  and  clefts,  with  very 
steep  sides  rising  into  sharp  hills.  The  sides 
of  the  ravines  were  quite  densely  over- 
grown with  underbrush  and  young  trees, 
and  through  one  or  two  of  them  ran,  or 
rather  trickled,  srnall  streams,  but  an  inch 
or  two  in  depth,  and  often  less.  Directly 
across  one  of  these  ravines,  at  its  narrow- 
est and  steepest  part,  the  beaver  had  built 
an  immense,  massive  dam,  completely  stop- 
ping the  course  of  a  little  brooklet.  The 
dam  was  certainly  eight  feet  high,  and  strong 
enough  and  broad  enough  to  cross  on  horse- 
back ;  and  it  had  turned  back  the  stream  until 
a  large  pond,  almost  a  little  lake,  had  been 
formed  by  it.  This  was  miles  from  any  other 
body  of  water,  but,  judging  from  the  traces 
of  their  work,  it  had  once  held  a  large  colony 
of  beavers ;  when  I  saw  it  they  had  all  been 
trapped  out,  and  the  pond  had  been  deserted 
for  a  year  and  over.  Though  clumsy  on  dry 
ground,  and  fearing  much  to  be  caught  upon 
it.  yet  beaver  can  make,  if  necessary,  quite 


88  HUNTING  TRIPS 

long  overland  journeys,  and  that  at  a  speed 
with  which  it  will  give  a  man  trouble  to  keep 
up. 

As  there  are  few  fish  in  the  plains  streams, 
otters  are  naturally  not  at  all  common, 
though  occasionally  we  get  one.  Musk-rats 
are  quite  plenty  in  all  the  pools  of  water. 
Sometimes  a  little  pool  out  on  the  prairie 
will  show  along  its  edges  numerous  traces 
of  animal  life;  for,  though  of  small  extent, 
and  a  long  distance  from  other  water,  it 
may  be  the  home  of  beavers  and  musk-rats, 
the  breeding-place  of  different  kinds  of 
ducks,  and  the  drinking-place  for  the  deni- 
zens of  the  dry  country  roundabouts,  such 
as  wolves,  antelopes,  and  badgers. 

Although  the  plains  country  is  in  most 
places  very  dry,  yet  there  are  here  and  there 
patches  of  prairie  land  where  the  reverse 
is  true.  One  such  is  some  thirty  miles  dis- 
tant from  my  ranch.  The  ground  is  gently 
rolling,  in  some  places  almost  level,  and  is 
crossed  by  two  or  three  sluggish,  winding 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  89 

creeks,  with  many  branches,  always  holding 
T,  and  swelling  out  into  small  pools  and 
lakelets  wherever  there  is  a  hollow.  The 
prairie  round  about  is  wet,  at  times  almost 
marshy,  especially  at  the  borders  of  the 
great  reedy  slews.  These  pools  and  slews 
are  favorite  breeding-places  for  water-fowl, 
especially  for  mallard,  and  a  good  bag  can 
be  made  at  them  in  the  fall,  both  among  the 

0 

young  flappers  (as  tender  and  delicious 
birds  for  the  table  as  any  I  know),  and 
among  the  flights  of  wild  duck  that  make  the 
region  a  stopping-place  on  their  southern  mi- 
gration. In  these  small  pools,  with  little 
cover  round  the  edges,  the  poor  flappers  are 
at  a  great  disadvantage ;  we  never  shoot  them 
unless  we  really  need  them  for  the  table. 
But  quite  often,  in  August  or  September, 
if  near  the  place,  I  have  gone  down  to  visit 
one  or  two  of  the  pools,  and  have  bn 
home  half  a  dozen  flappers,  killed  with  the 
rifle  if  I  had  been  out  after  large  game,  or 
v.ith  the  revolver  if  I  had  merely  been  among 


90  HUNTING  TRIPS 

the  cattle, — each  duck,  in  the  latter  case, 
representing  the  expenditure  of  a  vast  num- 
ber of  cartridges. 

Later  in  the  fall,  when  the  young  ducks 
are  grown  and  the  flocks  are  coming  in  from 
the  north,  fair  shooting  may  be  had  by  ly- 
ing in  the  rushes  on  the  edge  of  some  large 
pond,  and  waiting  for  the  evening  flight  of 
the  birds ;  or  else  by  taking  a  station  on  some 
spot  of  low  ground  across  which  the  ducks 
fly  in  passing  from  one  sheet  of  water  to 
another.  Frequently  quite  a  bag  of  mal- 
lard, widgeon,  and  pintail  can  be  made  in 
this  manner,  although  nowhere  in  the  Bad 
Lands  is  there  any  such  duck-shooting  as  is 
found  farther  east.  Ducks  are  not  very  easy 
to  kill,  or  even  to  hit,  when  they  fly  past. 
My  duck  gun,  the  No.  10  choke-bore,  is 
a  very  strong  and  close  shooting  piece,  and 
such  a  one  is  needed  when  the  strong-flying 
birds  are  at  any  distance ;  but  the  very  fact 
of  its  shooting  so  close  makes  it  necessary 
that  the  aim  should  be  very  true;  and  as  a 
consequence  my  shooting  at  ducks  has  varied 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  91 

from  bad  to  indifferent,  and  my  bags  have 
been  always  small. 

Once  I  made  an  unusually  successful  right 
and  left,  however.  In  late  summer  and  early 
fall  large  flocks  of  both  green-winged  and 
blue-winged  teal  are  often  seen  both  on  the 
ponds  and  on  the  river,  flying  up  and  down 
the  latter.  On  one  occasion  while  out  with 
the  wagon  we  halted  for  the  mid-day  meal 
on  the  bank  of  the  river.  Travelling  across 
the  plains  in  company  with  a  wagon,  espec- 
ially if  making  a  long  trip,  as  we  were  then 
doing,  is  both  tiresome  and  monotonous. 
The  scenery  through  the  places  where  the 
wagon  must  go  is  everywhere  much  the 
same,  and  the  pace  is  very  slow.  At  lunch- 
time  I  was  glad  to  get  off  the  horse,  which 
had  been  plodding  along  at  a  walk  for  hours, 
and  stretch  my  muscles;  and,  noticing  a 
bunch  of  teal  fly  past  and  round  a  bend  in  the 
river,  I  seized  the  chance  for  a  little  diver- 
sion, and  taking  my  double-barrel,  followed 
them  on  foot.  The  banks  were  five  or  six 
feet  high,  edged  with  a  thick  growth  of 


92  HUNTING  TRIPS 

cotton-wood  saplings ;  so  the  chance  to  creep 
up  was  very  good.  On  getting  round  the 
bend  I  poked  my  head  through  the  bushes, 
and  saw  that  the  little  bunch  I  was  after 
had  joined  a  great  flock  of  teal,  which  was 
on  a  sand  bar  in  the  middle  of  the  stream. 
They  were  all  huddled  together,  some  stand- 
ing on  the  bar,  and  others  in  the  water  right 
by  it,  and  I  aimed  for  the  thickest  part  of 
the  flock.  At  the  report  they  sprang  into 
the  air,  and  I  leaped  to  my  feet  to  give  them 
the  second  barrel,  when,  from  under  the  bank 
right  beneath  me,  two  shoveller  or  spoon-bill 
ducks  rose,  with  great  quacking,  and,  as  they 
were  right  in  line,  I  took  them  instead, 
knocking  both  over.  When  I  had  fished  out 
the  two  shovellers,  I  waded  over  to  the  sand 
bar  and  picked  up  eleven  teal,  making  thir- 
teen ducks  with  the  two  barrels. 

On  one  occasion  my  brother  and  myself 
made  a  short  wagon  trip  in  the  level,  fertile, 
farming  country,  whose  western  edge  lies 
many  miles  to  the  east  of  the  Bad  Lands 
around  my  ranch.  There  the  land  was  al- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  93 

ready  partially  settled  by  farmers,  and  we 
had  one  or  two  days'  quite  fair  duck-shoot- 
ing. It  was  a  rolling  country  of  mixed 
prairie  land  and  rounded  hills,  with  small 
groves  of  trees  and  numerous  little  lakes 
in  the  hollows.  The  surface  of  the  natural 
prairie  was  broken  in  places  by  great  wheat 
fields,  and  when  we  were  there  the  grain  was 
gathered  in  sheaves  and  stacks  among  the 
stubble.  At  night-time  we  either  put  up  at 
the  house  of  some  settler,  or,  if  there  were 
none  round,  camped  out. 

One  night  we  had  gone  into  camp  among 
the  dense  timber  fringing  a  small  river,  which 
wound  through  the  prairie  in  a  deep  narrow 
bed  with  steep  banks.  Until  people  have  ac- 
tually camped  out  themselves  it  is  difficult 
for  them  to  realize  how  much  work  there  is 
in  making  or  breaking  camp.  But  it  is  very 
quickly  done  if  every  man  has  his  duties  as- 
signed to  him  and  starts  about  doing  them 
at  once.  In  choosing  camp  there  are  three 
essentials  to  be  looked  to — wood,  water,  and 
grass.  The  last  is  found  everywhere  in  the 


94  HUNTING  TRIPS 

eastern  prairie  land,  where  we  were  on  our 
duck-shooting  trip,  but  in  many  places  on 
the  great  dry  plains  farther  west,  it  is  either 
very  scanty  or  altogether  lacking ;  and  I  have 
at  times  been  forced  to  travel  half  a  score 
miles  farther  than  I  wished  to  get  feed  for  the 
horses.  Water,  again,  is  a  commodity  not  by 
any  means  to  be  found  everywhere  on  the 
plains.  If  the  country  is  known  and  the 
journeys  timed  aright,  water  can  easily  be 
had,  at  least  at  the  night  camps,  for  on  a 
pinch  a  wagon  can  be  pushed  along  thirty 
miles  or  so  at  a  stretch,  giving  the  tough 
ponies  merely  a  couple  of  hours'  rest  and 
feed  at  mid-day;  but  in  going  through  an 
unknown  country  it  has  been  my  misfortune 
on  more  than  one  occasion  to  make  a  dry 
camp — that  is,  one  without  any  water  either 
for  men  or  horses,  and  such  camps  are  most 
uncomfortable.  The  thirst  seems  to  be  most 
annoying  just  after  sundown;  after  one  has 
gotten  to  sleep  and  the  air  has  become  cool, 
he  is  not  troubled  much  by  it  again  until 
within  two  or  three  hours  of  noon  next  day, 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


95 


when  the  chances  are  that  he  will  have 
reached  water,  for  of  course  by  that  time  he 
will  have  made  a  desperate  push  to  get  to  it. 
When  found,  it  is  more  than  likely  to  be  bad, 
IK  ing  either  from  a  bitter  alkaline  pool,  or 
from  a  hole  in  a  creek,  so  muddy  that  it  can 
only  be  called  liquid  by  courtesy.  On  the 
great  plains  wood  is  even  scarcer,  and  at 
least  half  the  time  the  only  material  from 
which  to  make  a  fire  will  be  buffalo  chips' 
and  sage  brush ;  the  long  roots  of  the  latter 
if  dug  up  make  a  very  hot  blaze.  Of  course 
when  wood  is  so  scarce  the  fire  is  a  small 
one,  used  merely  to  cook  by,  and  is  not  kept 
up  after  the  cooking  is  over. 

When  a  place  with  grass,  wood,  and  water 
is  found,  the  wagon  is  driven  up  to  the  wind- 
ward side  of  where  the  beds  are  to  be  laid, 
and  the  horses  are  unhitched,  watered,  and 
turned  out  to  graze  freely  until  bedtime, 
when  a  certain  number  of  them  are  picketed 
or  hobbled.  If  danger  from  white  or  red 
horse-thieves  is  feared,  a  guard  is  kept  over 
them  all  night.  The  ground  is  cleared  of 


96  HUNTING  TRIPS 

stones  and  cacti  where  the  beds  are  to  be 
placed,  and  the  blankets  and  robes  spread. 
Generally  we  have  no  tent,  and  the  wagon- 
cover  is  spread  over  all  to  keep  out  rain. 
Meanwhile  some  one  gathers  the  wood  and 
starts  a  fire.  The  coffee-pot  is  set  among  the 
coals,  and  the  frying-pan  with  bacon  and 
whatever  game  has  been  shot  is  placed  on 
top.  Like  Eastern  backwoodsmen,  all  plains- 
*  men  fry  about  every  thing  they  can  get  hold 
of  to  cook ;  for  my  own  use  I  always  have  a 
broiler  carried  along  in  the  wagon.  One 
evening  in  every  three  or  four  is  employed 
in  baking  bread  in  the  Dutch  oven ;  if  there 
is  no  time  for  this,  biscuits  are  made  in  the 
fryingpan.  The  food  carried  along  is  very 
simple,  consisting  of  bacon,  flour,  coffee, 
sugar,  baking-powder,  and  salt;  for  all  else 
we  depend  on  our  guns.  On  a  long  trip  ev- 
ery old  hand  carries  a  water-proof  canvas 
bag,  containing  his  few  spare  clothes  and 
necessaries ;  on  a  short  trip  a  little  oilskin  one, 
for  the  tooth-brush,  soap,  towel,  etc.,  will 
do. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  97 

On  the  evening  in  question  our  camping- 
ground  was  an  excellent  one;  we  had  no 
trouble  about  any  thing,  except  that  we  had 
to  bring  water  to  the  horses  in  pails,  for  the 
banks  were  too  steep  and  rotten  to  get  them 
down  to  the  river.  The  beds  were  made 
under  a  great  elm,  and  in  a  short  time  the 
fire  was  roaring  in  front  of  them,  while  the 
tender  grouse  were  being  roasted  on  pointed 
sticks.  One  of  the  pleasantest  times  of  camp- 
ing out  is  the  period  immediately  after  sup- 
per, when  the  hunters  lie  in  the  blaze  of  the 
firelight,  talking  over  what  they  have  done 
during  the  day  .and  making  their  plans  for 
the  morrow.  And  how  soundly  a  man  who 
has  worked  hard  sleeps  in  the  open,  none  but 
he  who  has  tried  it  knows. 

Before  we  had  risen  in  the  morning,  when 
the  blackness  of  the  night  had  barely  changed 
to  gray,  we  were  roused  by  the  whistle  of 
wings,  as  a  flock  of  ducks  flew  by  along 
the  course  of  the  stream,  and  lit  in  the  water 
just  above  the  camp.  Some  kinds  of  ducks 
in  li^luin**  strike  the  water  with  their  tails 


98  HUNTING  TRIPS 

first,  and  skitter  along  the  surface  for  a  few 
feet  before  settling  down.  Lying  in  our 
blankets  we  could  plainly  hear  all  the  mo- 
tions: first  of  all,  the  whistle — whistle  of 
their  wings ;  then  a  long-drawn  splash-h-h 
— plump;  and  then  a  low,  conversational 
quacking.  It  was  too  dark  to  shoot,  but  we 
got  up  and  ready,  and  strolled  down  along 
the  brink  of  the  river  opposite  where  we 
could  hear  them;  and  as  soon  as  we  could 
see  we  gave  them  four  barrels  and  picked  up 
half  a  dozen  scaup-ducks.  Breakfast  was 
not  yet  ready,  and  we  took  a  turn  out  on  the 
prairie  before  coming  back  tQ  the  wagon.  In 
a  small  pool,  down  in  a  hollow,  were  a  couple 
of  little  dipper  ducks  or  buffie-heads ;  they 
rose  slowly  against  the  wind,  and  offered 
such  fair  marks  that  it  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion to  miss  them. 

The  evening  before  we  had  lain  among 
the  reeds  near  a  marshy  lake  and  had  killed 
quite  a  number  of  ducks,  mostly  widgeon 
and  teal;  and  this  morning  we  intended  to 
try  shooting  among  the  cornfields.  By  sun- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  99 

rise  c  a  good  distance  off,  on  a  high 

ridge,  across  which  we  had  noticed  that  the 

s  flew  in  crossing  from  one  set  of  lakes 
to  another.  The  flight  had  already  begun, 
and  our  arrival  scared  off  the  birds  for  the 
time  being;  but  in  a  little  while,  after  we 
had  hidden  among  the  sheaves,  stacking  the 
straw  up  around  us,  the  ducks  began  to  come 
back,  either  flying  over  in  their  passage  from 
the  water,  or  else  intending  to  light  and  feed. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  mallards,  which 
are  the  commonest  of  the  Western  ducks, 
and  the  only  species  customarily  killed  in  this 

of  shooting.  They  are  especially  fond 
of  the  corn,  of  which  there  was  a  small  patch 
in  the  grain  field.  To  this  flocks  came  again 
and  again,  and  fast  though  they  flew  we 
got  many  before  they  left  the  place,  scared 
by  the  shooting.  Those  that  were  merely 
passing  from  one  point  to  another  flew  low, 
and  among  them  we  shot  a  couple  of  gad- 
wall,  and  also  knocked  over  a  red-head  from 
a  little  bunch  that  went  by,  their  squat, 
chunky  forms  giving  them  a  very  different 


ioo  HUNTING  TRIPS 

look  from  the  longer,  lighter-built  mallard. 
The  mallards  that  came  to  feed  flew  high  in 
the  air,  wheeling  round  in  gradually  lower- 
ing circles  when  they  had  reached  the  spot 
where  they  intended  to  light.  In  shooting 
in  the  grain  fields  there  is  usually  plenty  of 
time  to  aim,  a  snap  shot  being  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  sport  exceptional.  Care  must  be 
taken  to  He  quiet  until  the  ducks  are  near 
enough;  shots  are  most  often  lost  through 
shooting  too  soon.  Heavy  guns  with  heavy 
loads  are  necessary,  for  the  ducks  are  gener- 
ally killed  at  long  range ;  and  both  from  this 
circumstance  as  well  as  from  the  rapidity  of 
their  flight,  it  is  imperative  to  hold  well  ahead 
of  the  bird  fired  at.  It  has  one  advantage 
over  shooting  in  a  marsh,  and  that  is  that  a 
wounded  bird  which  drops  is  of  course 
hardly  ever  lost.  Corn- fed  mallards  are  most 
delicious  eating;  they  rank  on  a  par  with 
teal  and  red-head,  and  second  only  to  the 
canvas-back — a  bird,  by  the  way,  of  which 
I  have  never  killed  but  one  or  two  individuals 
in  the  West. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  101 

In  going  out  of  this  jt  a  shot  at 

a  gang  of  wild  geese.  We  saw  them  a  long 
way  off,  coming  straight  toward  us  in  a 
head  and  tail  line.  Down  we  dropped,  flat  on 
our  faces,  remaining  perfectly  still  without 
even  looking  up  (for  wild  geese  are  quick 
to  catch  the  slightest  motion)  until  the  sound 
of  the  heavy  wing  strokes  and  the  honking 
seemed  directly  overhead.  Then  we  rose  on 
our  knees  and  fired  all  four  barrels,  into 
which  we  had  slipped  buckshot  cartridges. 
They  were  away  up  in  the  air,  much  beyond 
an  ordinary  gunshot ;  and  we  looked  regret- 
fully after  them  as  they  flew  off.  Pretty 
soon  one  lagged  a  little  behind;  his  wings 
beat  slower ;  suddenly  his  long  neck  dropped, 
and  he  came  down  like  a  stone,  one  of  the 
buckshot  having  gone  dean  through  his 
breast. 

We  had  a  long  distance  to  make  that  day, 

and  after  leaving  the  grain  fields  travelled 

pretty  steadily,  only  getting  out  of  the  wagon 

or  twice  after  prairie  chickens.     At 

lunch  time  we  halted  near  a  group  of  small 


102  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ponds  and  reedy  -sloughs.  In  these  were 
quite  a  number  of  teal  and  wood-duck, 
which  were  lying  singly,  in  pairs,  or  small 
bunches,  on  the  edges  of  the  reeds,  or  where 
there  were  thick  clusters  of  lily  pads ;  and  we 
had  half  an  hour's  good  sport  in  "  jump- 
ing" these  little  ducks,  moving  cautiously 
along  the  margin  of  the  reeds,  keeping  as 
much  as  possible  concealed  from  view,  and 
shooting  four  teal  and  a  wood-duck,  as, 
frightened  at  our  near  approach,  they  sprang 
into  the  air  and  made  off.  Late  in  the 
evening,  while  we  were  passing  over  a  nar- 
row neck  of  land  that  divided  two  small 
lakes,  with  reedy  shores,  from  each  other, 
a  large  flock  of  the  usually  shy  pintail  duck 
passed  over  us  at  close  range,  and  we  killed 
two  from  the  wagon,  making  in  all  a  bag 
of  twenty-one  and  a  half  couple  of  water- 
fowl during  the  day,  two  thirds  falling  to 
my  brother's  gun.  Of  course,  this  is  a  very 
small  bag  indeed  compared  to  those  made 
in  the  Chesapeake,  or  in  Wisconsin  and  the 
Mississippi  valley;  but  the  day  was  so  per- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 

and  there  were  so  many  varieties  of 
shooting,  that  I  question  if  any  bag,  no 
matter  how  large,  ever  gave  much  more 
pleasure  to  the  successful  sportsman  than  did 
our  forty-three  ducks  to  us. 

Though  ducks  fly  so  fast,  and  need  such 
good  shooting  to  kill  them,  yet  their  rate  of 
speed,  as  compared  to  that  of  other  birds, 
is  not  so  great  as  is  commonly  supposed. 
Hawks,  for  instance,  are  faster.  Once,  on  the 
prairie,  I  saw  a  mallard  singled  out  of  a  flock, 
fairly  overtaken,  and  struck  down,  by  a 
large,  light-colored  hawk,  which  I  supposed 
to  be  a  lanner,  or  at  any  rate  one  of  the  long- 
winged  falcons ;  and  I  saw  a  duck  hawk,  on 
the  coast  of  Long  Island,  perform  a  similar 
feat  with  the  swift-flying  long-tailed  duck 
— the  old  squaw,  or  sou'-sou'-southerly,  of 
the  baymen.  A  more  curious  instance  was 
related  to  me  by  a  friend.  He  was  out  along 
a  river,  shooting  ducks  as  they  flew  by  him, 
and  had  noticed  a  bald  eagle  perched 
on  the  top  of  a  dead  tree  some  distance  from 
him.  While  looking  at  it  a  little  bunch  of 


104  HUNTING  TRIPS 

teal  flew  swiftly  by,  and  to  his  astonishment 
the  eagle  made  after  them.  The  little  ducks 
went  along  like  bullets,  their  wings  work- 
ing so  fast  that  they  whistled;  flop,  flop 
came  the  great  eagle  after  them,  with  la- 
bored-looking flight;  and  yet  he  actually 
gained  so  rapidly  on  his  seemingly  fleeter 
quarry  that  he  was  almost  up  to  them  when 
opposite  my  friend.  Then  the  five  teal  went 
down  headlong  into  the  water,  diving  like 
so  many  shot.  The  eagle  kept  hovering  over 
the  spot,  thrusting  with  its  claws  at  each  lit- 
tle duck  as  it  came  up;  but  he  was  unsuc- 
cessful, all  of  the  teal  eventually  getting  into 
the  reeds,  where  they  were  safe.  In  the 
East,  by  the  way,  I  have  seen  the  same  trick 
of  hovering  over  the  water  where  a  flock  of 
ducks  had  disappeared,  performed  by  a 
Cooper's  hawk.  He  had  stooped  at  some 
nearly  grown  flappers  of  the  black  duck ;  they 
all  went  under  water,  and  he  remained  just 
above,  grasping  at  any  one  that  appeared, 
and  forcing  them  to  go  under  without  get- 
ting a  chance  to  breathe.  Soon  he  had 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  105 

singled  out  one,  when  kept  down  a  shorter 
and  shorter  time  at  each  dive ;  it  soon  grew 
exhausted,  was  a  little  too  slow  in  taking  a 
dive,  and  was  grasped  in  the  claws  of  its 
foe. 

In  duck-shooting  where  there  are  reeds, 
grass  and  water-lilies  the  cripples  should  be 
killed  at  once,  even  at  the  cost  of  burning 
some  additional  powder,  many  kinds  of  wa- 
terfowl being  very  expert  at  diving.  Others, 
as  widgeon,  shoveller,  and  teal,  do  not  dive, 
merely  trying  to  hide  in  some  hole  in  the 
bank ;  and  these  are  generally  birds  that  fall 
to  the  touch  of  shot  much  more  easily  than 
is  the  case  with  their  tougher  relatives. 

There  are  two  or  three  species  of  birds 
tolerably  common  over  the  plains  which  we 
do  not  often  regularly  hunt,  but  which  are 
occasionally  shot  for  the  table.  These  are 
the  curlew,  the  upland  or  grass  plover,  and 
the  golden  plover.  All  three  kinds  belong  to 
the  family  of  what  are  called  wading  birds ; 
but  with  us  it  is  rare  to  see  any  one  of  them 
near  water. 


io6  HUNTING  TRIPS 

The  curlew  is  the  most  conspicuous;  in- 
deed its  loud,  incessant  clamor,  its  erect  car- 
riage, and  the  intense  curiosity  which  pos- 
sesses it,  and  which  makes  it  come  up  to 
circle  around  any  strange  object,  all  com- 
bine to  make  it  in  springtime  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  features  of  plains  life.  At  that 
time  curlews  are  seen  in  pairs  or  small  par- 
ties, keeping  to  the  prairies  and  grassy  up- 
lands. They  are  never  silent,  and  their  dis- 
cordant noise  can  be  heard  half  a  mile  off. 
Whenever  they  discover  a  wagon  or  a  man 
on  horseback,  they  fly  toward  him,  though 
usually  taking  good  care  to  keep  out  of  gun- 
shot. They  then  fly  over  and  round  the  ob- 
ject, calling  all  the  time,  and  sometimes  go- 
ing off  to  one  side,  where  they  will  light  and 
run  rapidly  through  the  grass;  and  in  this 
manner  they  will  sometimes  accompany  a 
hunter  or  traveller  for  miles,  scaring  off  all 
game.  By  the  end  of  July  or  August  they 
have  reared  their  young;  they  then  go  in 
small  flocks,  are  comparatively  silent,  and 
are  very  good  eating.  I  have  never  made  a 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  107 

practice  of  shooting  them,  though  I  have 
fired  at  them  sometimes  with  the  rifle,  and 
iis  way  have  now  and  then  killed  one; 
twice  I  have  hit  them  on  the  wing  with  this 
weapon,  while  they  were  soaring  slowly 
about  above  me,  occasionally  passing  pretty 
near. 

The  grass  plover  is  found  in  the  same 
places  as  the  curlew,  and  like  it  breeds  with 
us.  Its  flesh  is  just  as  good,  and  it  has 
somewhat  the  same  habits ;  but  is  less  wary, 
noisy,  and  inquisitive.  The  golden  plover  is 
only  found  during  the  migrations,  when 
large  flocks  may  sometimes  be  seen.  They 
delicious  eating;  the  only  ones  I  have 
ever  shot  have  been  killed  with  the  little 
ranch  gun,  when  riding  round  the  ranch,  or 
travelling  from  one  point  to  another. 

Like  the  grouse,  and  other  ground-nest- 
ing birds,  the  curlews  and  plovers  during 
breeding-time  have  for  their  chief  foes  the 
coyotes,  badgers,  skunks,  and  other  flesh- 
eating  prowlers ;  and  as  all  these  are  greatly 
thinned  off  by  the  cattle-men,  with  their 


io8  HUNTING  TRIPS 

fire-arms  and  their  infinitely  more  deadly 
poison,  the  partial  and  light  settlement  of 
the  country  that  accompanies  the  cattle  in- 
dustry has  had  the  effiect  of  making  all  these 
birds  more  plentiful  than  before;  and  most 
unlike  the  large  game,  game  birds  bid  fair 
to  increase  in  numbers  during  the  next  few 
years. 

The  skunks  are  a  nuisance  in  more  ways 
than  one.  They  are  stupid,  familiar  beasts, 
with  a  great  predilection  for  visiting  camps, 
and  the  shacks  or  huts  of  the  settlers,  to  pick 
up  any  scraps  of  meat  that  may  be  lying 
round.  I  have  time  and  again  known  a 
skunk  to  actually  spend  several  hours  of  the 
night  in  perseveringly  digging  a  hole  under- 
neath the  logs  of  a  hut,  so  as  to  get  inside 
among  the  inmates.  The  animal  then  hunts 
about  among  them,  and  of  course  no  one 
will  willingly  molest  it ;  and  it  has  often  been 
known  to  deliberately  settle  down  upon  and 
begin  to  eat  one  of  the  sleepers.  The 
strange  and  terrible  thing  about  these  at- 
tacks is  that  in  certain  districts  and  at  cer- 


OP  A  RANCHMAN 


109 


tain  times  the  bite  of  the  skunk  is  surely 
fatal,  producing  hydrophobia;  and  many 
cowmen,  soldiers,  and  hunters  have  annu- 
ally died  from  this  cause.  There  is  no  wild 
beast  in  the  West,  no  matter  what  its  size 
ami  ferocity,  so  dreaded  by  old  plainsmen 
as  this  seemingly  harmless  little  beast. 

I  remember  one  rather  ludicrous  incident 
connected  with  a  skunk.  A  number  of  us, 
among  whom  was  a  huge,  happy-go-lucky 
Scotchman,  who  went  by  the  name  of 
Sandy,  were  sleeping  in  a  hut,  when  a  skunk 
burrowed  under  the  logs  and  got  in.  Hear- 
ing it  moving  about  among  the  tin  pans 
Sandy  struck  a  light,  was  much  taken  by 
the  familiarity  of  the  pretty  black  and  white 
little  animal,  and,  as  it  seemed  in  his  eyes  a 
curiosity,  took  a  shot  at  it  with  his  revolver. 
He  missed ;  the  skunk,  for  a  wonder,  retired 
promptly  without  taking  any  notice  of  the 
attack ;  and  the  rest  of  the  alarmed  sleepers, 
when  informed  of  the  cause  of  the  shot, 
cursed  the  Scotchman  up  hill  and  down  dale 
for  having  so  nearly  brought  dire  confusion 


no  HUNTING  TRIPS 

on  them  all.  The  latter  took  the  abuse  very 
philosophically,  merely  remarking:  "I'm 
glad  a  did  na  kill  him  myseF;  he  seemed 
such  a  dacent  wee  beastie."  The  sequel 
proved  that  neither  the  skunk  nor  Sandy 
had  learned  any  wisdom  by  the  encounter, 
for  half  an  hour  later  the  "  dacent  wee 
beastie "  came  back,  and  this  time  Sandy 
fired  at  him  with  fatal  effect.  Of  course 
the  result  was  a  frantic  rush  of  all  hands 
from  the  hut,  Sandy  exclaiming  with  late 
but  sincere  repentance :  "  A  did  na  ken  't 
wad  cause  such  a  tragadee." 

Besides  curlew  and  plover  there  are  at 
times,  especially  during  the  migrations,  a 
number  of  species  of  other  waders  to  be 
found  along  the  streams  and  pools  in  the 
cattle  region.  Yellowlegs,  yelper,  willet, 
marlin,  dough  bird,  stilt,  and  avocet  are 
often  common,  but  they  do  not  begin  to  be 
as  plentiful  as  they  are  in  the  more  fertile 
lands  to  the  eastward,  and  the  ranchmen 
never  shoot  at  them  or  follow  them  as  game 
birds. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  1 1 1 

A  more  curious  bird  than  any  of  these  is 
the  plains  plover,  which  avoids  the  water 
and  seems  to  prefer  the  barren  plateaus  and 
almost  desert-like  reaches  of  sage-brush  and 
alkali.  Plains  plovers  are  pretty  birds,  and 
not  at  all  shy.  In  fall  they  are  fat  and  good 
eating,  but  they  are  not  plentiful  enough  to 
be  worth  goin^  after.  Sometimes  they  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  most  seemingly  unlikely 
places  for  a  wader  to  be.  Last  spring  one 
pair  nested  in  a  broken  piece  of  Bad  Lands 
near  my  ranch,  where  the  ground  is  riven 
and  twisted  into  abrupt,  steep  crests  and 
deep  canyons.  The  soil  is  seemingly  wholly 
unfitted  to  support  bird  life,  as  it  is  almost 
bare  of  vegetation,  being  covered  with  fossil 
plants,  shells,  fishes,  etc. — all  of  which  ob- 
jects, by  the  way,  the  frontiersman,  who  is 
much  given  to  broad  generalization,  groups 
together  under  the  startling  title  of  "  stone 
clams." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   GROUSE   OF   THE 

NORTHERN  CATTLE 

PLAINS 

TO  my  mind  there  is  no  comparison  be- 
tween sport  with  the  rifle  and  sport 
with  the  shot-gun.  The  rifle  is  the  free- 
man's weapon.  The  man  who  uses  it  well 
in  the  chase  shows  that  he  can  at  need  use 
it  also  in  war  with  human  foes.  I  would  no 
more  compare  the  feat  of  one  who  bags  his 
score  of  ducks  or  quail  with  that  of  him  who 
fairly  hunts  down  and  slays  a  buck  or  bear, 
than  I  would  compare  the  skill  necessary  to 
drive  a  buggy  with  that  required  to  ride  a 
horse  across  country;  or  the  dexterity  ac- 
quired in  handling  a  billiard  cue  with  that 
shown  by  a  skilful  boxer  or  oarsman.  The 
difference  is  not  one  of  degree;  it  is  one  of 

kind. 

112 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  i  1 3 

I  am  far  from  decrying  the  shot-gun.  It 
is  always  pleasant  as  a  change  from  the  rifle, 
and  in  the  Eastern  States  it  is  almost  the 
only  fire-arm  which  we  now  have  a  chance 
to  use.  But  out  in  the  cattle  country  it  is 
the  rifle  that  is  always  carried  by  the  ranch- 
man who  cares  for  sport.  Large  game  is 
still  that  which  is  sought  after,  and  most 
of  the  birds  killed  are  either  simply  slaugh- 
tered for  the  pot,  or  else  shot  for  the  sake  of 
variety,  while  really  after  deer  or  antelope ; 
though  every  now  and  then  I  have  taken  a 
day  with  the  shot-gun  after  nothing  else 
but  prairie  fowl. 

The  sharp-tailed  prairie  fowl  is  much  the 
most  plentiful  of  the  feathered  game  to  be 
found  on  the  northern  cattle  plains,  where 
it  replaces  the  common  prairie  chicken  so 
abundant  on  the  prairies  to  the  east  and 
southeast  of  the  range  of  our  birds.  In 
habits  it  is  much  like  the  latter,  being  one 
of  the  grouse  which  keep  to  the  open,  tree- 
less tracts,  though  it  is  far  less  averse  to 
timber  than  is  its  nearest  relative,  and  often 


ii4  HUNTING  TRIPS 

is  found  among  the  cotton-wood  trees  and 
thick  brush  which  fringe  the  streams.  I 
have  never  noticed  that  its  habits  when  pur- 
sued differ  much  from  those  of  the  common 
prairie  chicken,  though  it  is  perhaps  a  little 
more  shy,  and  is  certainly  much  more  apt 
to  light  on  a  tree  like  the  ruffed  grouse.  It 
is,  however,  essentially  a  bird  of  the  wilds, 
and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  it  seems  to  re- 
treat before  civilization,  continually  moving 
westward  as  the  wheat  fields  advance,  while 
its  place  is  taken  by  the  common  form, 
which  seems  to  keep  pace  with  the  settle- 
ment of  the  country.  Like  the  latter  bird, 
and  unlike  the  ruffed  grouse  and  blue 
grouse,  which  have  white  meat,  its  flesh  is 
dark,  and  it  is  very  good  eating  from  about 
the  middle  of  August  to  the  middle  of  No- 
vember, after  which  it  is  a  little  tough. 

As  already  said,  the  ranchmen  do  not 
often  make  a  regular  hunt  after  these 
grouse.  This  is  partly  because  most  of  them 
look  with  something  akin  to  contempt  upon 
any  fire-arm  but  the  rifle  or  revolver,  and 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  115 

partly  because  it  is  next  to  impossible  to 
keep  hunting-dogs  very  long  on  the  plains. 
The  only  way  to  check  in  any  degree  the 
ravages  of  the  wolves  is  by  the  most  liberal 
use  of  strychnine,  and  the  offal  of  any  game 
killed  by  a  cattle-man  is  pretty  sure  to  be 
poisoned  before  being  left,  while  the 
"  wolfer/'  or  professional  wolf-killer  strews 
his  bait  everywhere.  It  thus  comes  about 
that  any  dog  who  is  in  the  habit  of  going 
any  distance  from  the  house  is  almost  sure 
to  run  across  and  eat  some  of  the  poisoned 
meat,  the  effect  of  which  is  certain  death. 
The  only  time  I  have  ever  shot  sharp-tailed 
prairie  fowl  over  dogs  was  during  a  trip  to 
the  eastward  with  my  brother,  which  will  be 
described  further  on.  Out  on  the  plains 
I  have  occasionally  taken  a  morning  with 
the  shot-gun  after  them,  but  more  often 
have  either  simply  butchered  them  for  the 
pot,  when  out  of  meat,  or  else  have  killed  a 
few  with  the  rifle  when  I  happened  to  come 
across  them  while  after  deer  or  antelope. 
Occasions  frequently  arise,  in  living  a 


n6  HUNTING  TRIPS 

more  or  less  wild  life,  when  a  man  has  to 
show  his  skill  in  shifting  for  himself ;  when, 
for  instance,  he  has  to  go  out  and  make  a 
foray  upon  the  grouse,  neither  for  sport, 
nor  yet  for  a  change  of  diet,  but  actually 
for  food.  Under  such  circumstances  he  of 
course  pays  no  regard  to  the  rules  of  sport 
which  would  govern  his  conduct  on  other 
occasions.  If  a  man's  dinner  for  several 
consecutive  days  depends  upon  a  single  shot, 
he  is  a  fool  if  he  does  not  take  every  ad- 
vantage he  can.  I  remember,  for  instance, 
one  time  when  we  were  travelling  along  the 
valley  of  the  Powder  River,  and  got  entirely 
out  of  fresh  meat,  owing  to  my  making  a 
succession  of  ludicrously  bad  misses  at  deer. 
Having  had  my  faith  in  my  capacity  to  kill 
any  thing  whatever  with  the  rifle  a  good 
deal  shaken,  I  started  off  one  morning  on 
horseback  with  the  shot-gun.  Until  nearly 
noon  I  saw  nothing;  then,  while  riding 
through  a  barren-looking  bottom,  I  hap- 
pened to  spy  some  prairie  fowl  squatting 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  117 

close  to  the  ground  underneath  a  sage-brush. 
It   v.  as  some  minutes  before  I  could  make 
out  what  they  were,  they  kept  so  low  and  so 
quiet,  and  their  color  harmonized  so  well 
with  their  surroundings.    Finally  I  was  con- 
vinced that  they  were  grouse,  and  rode  my 
horse  slowly  by  them.     When  opposite,  I 
reigned  him  in  and  fired,  killing  the  whole 
hunch  of  five  birds.     Another  time  at  the 
ranch  our  supply  of  fresh  meat  gave  out 
entirely,  and  I  sallied  forth  with  the  ranch 
gun,  intent,  not  on  sport,  but  on  slaughter. 
It  was  late  fall,  and  as  I  rode  along  in  the 
dawn  (for  the  sun  was  not  up)  a  small  pack 
of  prairie  fowl  passed  over  my  head  and  lit 
on  a  dead  tree  that  stood  out  some  little  dis- 
tance from  a  grove  of  cotton-woods.    They 
paid  little  attention  to  me,  but  they  are  so 
shy  at  that  season  that  I  did  not  dare  to  try 
to  approach  them  on  foot,  but  let  the  horse 
jog  on  at  the  regular  cow-pony  gait — a  kind 
of  single-foot  pace,  between  a  walk  and  a 
trot, — and  as  I  passed  by  fired  into  the  tree 


n8  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  killed  four  birds.  Now,  of  course  I 
would  not  have  dreamed  of  taking  either  of 
these  shots  had  I  been  out  purely  for  sport, 
and  neither  needed  any  more  skill  than 
would  be  shown  in  killing  hens  in  a  barn- 
yard ;  but,  after  all,  when  one  is  hunting  for 
one's  dinner  he  takes  an  interest  in  his  suc- 
cess which  he  would  otherwise  lack,  and  on 
both  occasions  I  felt  a  most  unsportsman- 
like glee  when  I  found  how  many  I  had  pot- 
ted. 

The  habits  of  this  prairie  fowl  vary 
greatly  at  different  seasons  of  the  year.  It 
is  found  pretty  much  everywhere  within 
moderate  distance  of  water,  for  it  does  not 
frequent  the  perfectly  dry  wastes  where  we 
find  the  great  sage  cock.  But  it  is  equally 
at  home  on  the  level  prairie  and  among  the 
steep  hills  of  the  Bad  Lands.  When  on  the 
ground  it  has  rather  a  comical  look,  for  it 
stands  very  high  on  its  legs,  carries  its  sharp 
little  tail  cocked  up  like  a  wren's  and  when 
startled  stretches  its  neck  out  straight;  al- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 

together  it  gives  one  the  impression  of  being 
a  very  angular  bird.  Of  course  it  crouches, 
and  moves  about  when  feeding,  like  any 
other  grouse. 

One  of  the  strangest,  and  to  me  one  of  the 
most  attractive,  sounds  of  the  prairie  is  the 
hollow  booming  made  by  the  cocks  in 
spring.  Before  the  snow  has  left  the  ground 
they  begin,  and  at  the  break  of  morning  their 
deep  resonant  calls  sound  from  far  and  near, 
for  in  still  weather  they  can  be  heard  at  an 
immense  distance.  I  hardly  know  how  to 
describe  the  call;  indeed  it  cannot  be  de- 
scribed in  words.  It  has  a  hollow,  vibrant 
sound  like  that  of  some  wind  instrument, 
and  would  hardly  be  recognized  as  a  bird 
note  at  all.  I  have  heard  it  at  evening,  but 
more  often  shortly  after  dawn;  and  I  have 
often  stopped  and  listened  to  it  for  many 
minutes,  for  it  is  as  strange  and  weird  a 
form  of  natural  music  as  any  I  know.  At 
the  time  of  the  year  when  they  utter  these 
notes  the  cocks  gather  together  in  certain 


120  HUNTING  TRIPS 

places  and  hold  dancing  rings,  posturing 
and  strutting  about  as  they  face  and  pass 
each  other. 

The  nest  is  generally  placed  in  a  tuft  of 
grass  or  under  a  sage-brush  in  the  open,  but 
occasionally  in  the  brush  wood  near  a 
stream.  The  chicks  are  pretty  little  balls  of 
mottled  brown  and  yellow  down.  The 
mother  takes  great  care  of  them,  leading 
them  generally  into  some  patch  of  brush 
wood,  but  often  keeping  them  out  in  the  deep 
grass.  Frequently  when  out  among  the  cat- 
tle I  have  ridden  my  horse  almost  over  a 
hen  with  a  brood  of  chicks.  The  little  chicks 
first  attempt  to  run  off  in  single  file ;  if  dis- 
covered they  scatter  and  squat  down  under 
clods  of  earth  or  tufts  of  grass.  Holding 
one  in  my  hand  near  my  pocket  it  scuttled 
into  it  like  a  flash.  The  mother,  when  she 
sees  her  brood  discovered,  tumbles  about 
through  the  grass  as  if  wounded,  in  the  ef- 
fort to  decoy  the  foe  after  her.  If  she  is 
successful  in  this,  she  takes  a  series  of  short 
flights,  keeping  just  out  of  reach  of  her 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  121 

pursuer,  and  when  the  latter  has  been  lured 
far  enough  from  the  chicks  the  hen  rises 
and  flies  off  at  a  humming  speed. 

By  the  middle  of  August  the  young  are 
well  enough  grown  to  shoot,  and  are  then 
most  delicious  eating.  Different  coveys  at 
this  time  vary  greatly  in  their  behavior  if 
surprised  feeding  in  the  open.  Sometimes 
they  will  not  permit  of  a  very  close  approach, 
and  will  fly  off  after  one  or  two  have  been 
shot;  while  again  they  will  show  perfect 
indifference  to  the  approach  of  man,  and 
will  allow  the  latter  to  knock  off  the  heads 
of  five  or  six  with  his  rifle  before  the  rest 
take  the  alarm  and  fly  off.  They  now  go 
more  or  less  all  over  the  open  ground,  but 
are  especially  fond  of  frequenting  the  long 
grass  in  the  bottoms  of  the  coulies  and  ra- 
vines and  the  dense  brush  along  the  edges 
of  the  creeks  and  in  the  valleys ;  there  they 
will  invariably  be  found  at  mid-day,  and  will 
lie  till  they  are  almost  trodden  on  before 
rising. 

Late  in  the  month  of  August  one  year 


122  HUNTING  TRIPS 

we  had  been  close-herding  a  small  bunch  of 
young  cattle  on  a  bottom  about  a  mile  square, 
walled  in  by  bluffs,  and  with,  as  an  inlet,  a 
long,  dry  creek  running  back  many  miles 
into  the  Bad  Lands,  where  it  branched  out 
into  innumerable  smaller  creeks  and  coulies. 
We  wished  to  get  the  cattle  accustomed  to 
the  locality,  for  animals  are  more  apt  to 
stray  when  first  brought  on  new  ground 
than  at  any  later  period ;  so  each  night  we 
"  bedded  "  them  on  the  level  bottom — that 
is,  gathering  them  together  on  the  plain,  one 
of  us  would  ride  slowly  and  quietly  round 
and  round  the  herd,  heading  off  and  turning 
back  into  it  all  beasts  that  tried  to  stray  off, 
but  carefully  avoiding  disturbing  them  or 
making  any  unusual  noise;  and  by  degrees 
they  would  all  lie  down,  close  together. 
This  "  bedding  down  "  is  always  done  when 
travelling  with  a  large  herd,  when,  of  course, 
it  needs  several  cowboys  to  do  it ;  and  in  such 
cases  some  of  the  cowboys  keep  guard  all 
the  time,  walking  their  horses  round  the 
herd,  and  singing  and  calling  to  the  cattle 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 

all  night  long.  The  cattle  seem  to  like  to 
hear  the  human  voice,  and  it  tends  to  keep 
them  quiet  and  free  from  panic.  Often  \ 
camping  near  some  great  cattle  outfit  I  have 
lain  awake  at  night  for  an  hour  or  over  lis- 
tening to  the  wild,  not  unmusical,  calls  of 
the  cowboys  as  they  rode  round  the  half- 
slumbering  steers.  In  the  clear,  still  night 
air  the  calls  can  be  heard  for  a  mile  and 
more,  and  I  like  to  listen  to  them  as  they 
come  through  the  darkness,  half  mellowed 
by  the  distance,  for  they  are  one  of  the 
characteristic  sounds  of  plains  life.  Texan 
steers  often  give  considerable  trouble  before 
they  can  be  bedded,  and  are  prone  to  stam- 
pede, especially  in  a  thunder-storm.  But 
with  the  little  herd  we  were  at  this  time 
guarding  there  was  no  difficulty  whatever, 
the  animals  being  grade  shorthorns  of  East- 
ern origin.  After  seeing  them  quiet  we 
would  leave  them  for  the  night,  again  riding 
out  early  in  the  morning. 

On  every  occasion  when  we  thus  rode  out 
in  the  morning  we  saw  great  numbers  of 


i24  HUNTING  TRIPS 

prairie  fowl  feeding  in  the  open  plain  in 
small  flocks,  each  evidently  composed  of  a 
hen  and  her  grown  brood.  They  would 
often  be  right  round  the  cattle,  and  went 
indifferently  among  the  sage-brush  or  out 
on  the  short  prairie  grass.  They  flew  into 
the  bottom  from  some  distance  off  about 
daybreak,  fed  for  a  couple  of  hours,  and 
soon  after  sunrise  again  took  wing  and 
flew  up  along  the  course  of  the  dry  creek 
mentioned  above.  While  on  the  bottom  they 
were  generally  quite  shy,  not  permitting  any 
thing  like  a  close  approach  before  taking 
wing.  Their  habit  of  crowing  or  clucking 
while  flying  off  is  very  noticeable;  it  is,  by 
the  way,  a  most  strongly  characteristic  trait 
of  this  species.  I  have  been  especially  struck 
by  it  when  shooting  in  Minnesota,  where 
both  the  sharp-tail  and  the  common  prairie 
fowl  are  found;  the  contrast  between  the 
noisiness  of  one  bird  and  the  quiet  of  the 
other  was  very  marked.  If  one  of  us  ap- 
proached a  covey  on  horseback  the  birds 
would,  if  they  thought  they  were  unob- 


'OF  A  RANCHMAN  125 

served,  squat  down  close  to  the  ground; 
more  often  they  would  stand  very  erect,  and 
walk  off.  If  we  came  too  close  to  one  it 
would  utter  a  loud  kuk-kuk-kuk,  and  be  off, 
at  every  few  strokes  of  its  wings  repeating 
the  sound — a  kind  of  crowing  cluck.  This 
is  the  note  they  utter  when  alarmed,  or  when 
calling  to  one  another.  When  a  flock  are 
together  and  undisturbed  they  keep  up  a 
sociable  garrulous  cackling. 

Every  morning  by  the  time  the  sun  had 
been  up  a  little  while  the  grouse  had  all  gone 
from  the  bottom,  but  later  in  the  day  while 
riding  along  the  creek  among  the  cattle  we 
often  stumbled  upon  little  flocks.  We  fired 
at  them  with  our  revolvers  whenever  we 
were  close  enough,  but  the  amount  we  got  in 
this  way  was  very  limited,  and  as  we  were 
rather  stinted  for  fresh  meat,  the  cattle  tak- 
ing up  so  much  of  our  time  as  to  prevent  our 
going  after  deer,  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
devote  a  morning  to  hunting  up  the  creeks 
and  coulies  for  grouse,  with  the  shot-gun. 

Accordingly  the  next  morning  I  started, 


126  HUNTING  TRIPS 

just  about  the  time  the  last  of  the  flocks  were 
flying  away  from  their  feeding-ground  on 
the  bottom.  I  trudged  along  on  foot,  not 
wanting  to  be  bothered  by  a  horse.  The  air 
was  fresh  and  cool,  though  the  cloudless  sky 
boded  a  hot  noon.  As  I  walked  by  the  cat- 
tle they  stopped  grazing  and  looked  curi- 
ously at  me,  for  they  were  unused  to  seeing 
any  man  not  on  horseback.  But  they  did 
not  offer  to  molest  me ;  Texan  or  even  north- 
ern steers  bred  on  the  more  remote  ranges 
will  often  follow  and  threaten  a  footman  for 
miles.  While  passing  among  the  cattle  it 
was  amusing  to  see  the  actions  of  the  little 
cow  buntings.  They  were  very  familiar  lit- 
tle birds,  lighting  on  the  backs  of  the  beasts, 
and  keeping  fluttering  round  their  heads  as 
they  walked  through  the  grass,  hopping  up 
into  the  air  all  the  time.  At  first  I  could 
not  make  out  what  they  were  doing ;  but  on 
watching  them  closely  saw  that  they  were 
catching  the  grasshoppers  and  moths  which 
flew  into  the  air  to  avoid  the  cattle's  hoofs. 
They  are  as  tame  with  horsemen ;  while  rid- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  127 

ing  through  a  patch  of  tall  grass  a  flock  of 
huntings  will  often  keep  circling  within  a 
couple  of  yards  of  the  horse's  head,  seizing 
the  insects  as  they  fly  up  before  him. 

The  valley  through  which  the  creek  ran 
was  quite  wide,  bordered  by  low  buttes. 
After  a  heavy  rainfall  the  water  rushes 
through  the  at  other  times  dry  bed  in  a  foam- 
ing torrent,  and  it  thus  cuts  it  down  into  a 
canyon-like  shape,  making  it  a  deep,  wind- 
ing, narrow  ditch,  with  steep  sides.  Along 
the  edges  of  this  ditch  were  dense  patches, 
often  quite  large,  of  rose-bushes,  bullberry 
bushes,  ash,  and  wild  cherry,  making  almost 
impenetrable  thickets,  generally  not  over 
breast  high.  In  the  bottom  of  the  valley, 
along  the  edges  of  the  stream  bed,  the  grass 
was  long  and  coarse,  entirely  different  from 
the  short  fine  bunch  grass  a  little  farther 
back,  the  favorite  food  of  the  cattle. 

Almost  as  soon  as  I  had  entered  the  creek, 
in  walking  through  a  small  patch  of  brush 
I  put  up  an  old  cock,  as  strong  a  flyer  as  the 
general  run  of  October  birds.  Off  he  went, 


I28  HUNTING  TRIPS 

with  a  whirr,  clucking  and  crowing;  I  held 
the  little  i6-bore  fully  two  feet  ahead  of  him, 
pulled  the  trigger,  and  down  he  came  into 
the  bushes.  The  sharp-tails  fly  strongly  and 
steadily,  springing  into  the  air  when  they 
rise,  and  then  going  off  in  a  straight  line, 
alternately  sailing  and  giving  a  succession  of 
rapid  wing-beats.  Sometimes  they  will  sail 
a  long  distance  with  set  wings  before  alight- 
ing, and  when  they  are  passing  overhead 
with  their  wings  outstretched  each  of  the 
separate  wing  feathers  can  be  seen,  rigid  and 
distinct. 

Picking  up  and  pocketing  my  bird  I 
walked  on,  and  on  turning  round  a  shoulder 
of  the  bluffs  saw  a  pair  of  sharp-tails  sitting 
sunning  themselves  on  the  top  of  a  bullberry 
bush.  As  soon  as  they  saw  me  they  flew  off 
a  short  distance  and  lit  in  the  bed  of  the 
creek.  Rightly  judging  that  there  were 
more  birds  than  those  I  had  seen  I  began  to 
beat  with  great  care  the  patches  of  brush 
and  long  grass  on  both  sides  of  the  creek, 
and  soon  was  rewarded  by  some  very  pretty 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  129 

shooting.  The  covey  was  a  large  one,  com- 
posed of  two  or  three  broods  of  young  prai- 
rie fowl,  and  I  struck  on  the  exact  place,  a 

it  hollow  filled  with  low  brush  and  tall 
grass,  where  they  were  lying.  They  lay 
very  close,  and  my  first  notice  of  their  pres- 
ence was  given  by  one  that  I  almost  trod  on, 
which  rose  from  fairly  between  my  feet.  A 
young  grouse  at  this  season  offers  an  easy 
shot,  and  he  was  dropped  without  difficulty. 
At  the  report  two  others  rose  and  I  got  one. 
When  I  had  barely  reloaded  the  rest  began 
to  get  up,  singly  or  two  or  three  at  a  time, 
rising  straight  up  to  clear  the  edge  of  the 
hollow,  and  making  beautiful  marks;  when 
the  last  one  had  been  put  up  I  had  down 
seven  birds,  of  which  I  picked  up  six,  not 
being  able  to  find  the  other.  A  little  farther 
on  I  put  up  and  shot  a  single  grouse,  which 
fell  into  a  patch  of  briars  I  could  not  pene- 
trate. Then  for  some  time  I  saw  nothing, 
although  beating  carefully  through  every 

v-looking  place.  One  patch  of  grass,  but 
a  few  feet  across,  I  walked  directly  through 


i3o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

without  rousing  any  thing;  happening  to 
look  back  when  I  had  gone  some  fifty 
yards,  I  was  surprised  to  see  a  dozen  heads 
and  necks  stretched  up,  and  eying  me  most 
inquisitively;  their  owners  were  sharp-tails, 
a  covey  of  which  I  had  almost  walked  over 
without  their  making  a  sign.  I  strode  back ; 
but  at  my  first  step  they  all  stood  up  straight, 
with  their  absurd  little  tails  held  up  in  the 
air,  and  at  the  next  step  away  they  went, 
flying  off  a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  then  scat- 
tering in  the  brushy  hollows  where  a  coulie 
headed  up  into  the  buttes.  (Grouse  at  this 
season  hardly  ever  light  in  a  tree.)  I  marked 
them  down  carefully  and  tramped  all 
through  the  place,  yet  I  only  succeeded  in 
putting  up  two,  of  which  I  got  one  and 
missed  the  other  with  both  barrels.  After 
that  I  walked  across  the  heads  of  the 
coulies,  but  saw  nothing  except  in  a  small 
swale  of  high  grass,  where  there  was  a  little 
covey  of  five,  of  which  I  got  two  with  a  right 
and  left.  It  was  now  very  hot,  and  I  made 
for  a  spring  which  I  knew  ran  out  of  a  cliff 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  131 

a  mile  or  two  off.  There  I  stayed  till  long 
after  the  shadows  began  to  lengthen,  when 
I  started  homeward.  For  some  miles  I  saw 
nothing,  but  as  the  evening  came  on  the 
grouse  began  to  stir.  A  small  party  flew 
(ALT  my  head,  and  though  I  missed  them 
with  both  barrels,  either  because  I  miscal- 
culated the  distance  or  for  some  other  rea- 
son, yet  I  marked  them  down  very  well,  and 
when  I  put  them  up  again  got  two.  Three 
times  afterward  I  came  across  coveys,  either 
flying  or  walking  out  from  the  edges  of  the 
brushes,  and  I  got  one  bird  out  of  each, 
reaching  home  just  after  sunset  with  fifteen 
sharp-tails  strung  over  my  back.  Of  course 
working  after  grouse  on  an  August  day  in 
this  manner,  without  a  dog,  is  very  tiring, 
and  no  great  bag  can  be  made  without  a 
pointer  or  setter. 

In  September  the  sharp- tails  begin  to  come 
out  from  the  brushy  coulies  and  creek  bot- 
toms, and  to  wander  out  among  the  short 
grass  of  the  ravines  and  over  the  open 
prairie.  They  are  at  first  not  very  shy,  and 


i3 2  HUNTING  TRIPS 

in  the  early  part  of  the  month  I  have  once 
or  twice  had  good  sport  with  them.  Once 
I  took  a  companion  in  the  buck-board,  and 
drove  during  the  course  of  the  day  twenty 
or  twenty-five  miles  along  the  edge  of  the 
rolling  prairie,  crossing  the  creeks,  and  skirt- 
ing the  wooded  basins  where  the  Bad  Lands 
began.  We  came  across  quite  a  number  of 
coveys,  which  in  almost  all  cases  waited  for 
us  to  come  up,  and  as  the  birds  did  not  rise 
all  together,  I  got  three  or  four  shots  at  each 
covey,  and  came  home  with  ten  and  a  half 
couple. 

A  little  later  the  birds  become  shy  and  ac- 
quire their  full  strength  of  wing.  They  now 
wander  far  out  on  the  prairie,  and  hardly  ever 
make  any  effort  to  squat  down  and  conceal 
themselves  in  the  marvellous  way  which  they 
have  earlier  in  the  season,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, trust  to  their  vigilance  and  their  pow- 
ers of  flight  for  their  safety.  On  bare  ground 
it  is  now  impossible  to  get  anywhere  near 
them,  but  if  they  are  among  sage-brush  or 
in  other  low  cover  they  afford  fine  sport  to 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  133 

a  good  shot,  with  a  close-shooting,  strong- 
hitting  gun.  I  remember  one  evening,  while 
coming  over  with  a  wagon  team  from  the 
head  waters  of  O'Fallon  Creek,  across  the 
Big  Sandy,  when  it  became  a  matter  of  a 
good  deal  of  interest  for  us  to  kill  some- 
thing, as  otherwise  we  would  have  had  very 
little  to  eat.  We  had  camped  near  a  succes- 
sion of  small  pools,  containing  one  or  two 
teal,  which  I  shot ;  but  a  teal  is  a  small  bird 
when  placed  before  three  hungry  men. 
Sharp-tails,  however,  were  quite  numerous, 
having  come  in  from  round  about,  as  evening 
came  on,  to  drink.  They  were  in  superb 
condition,  stout  and  heavy,  with  clean, 
bright  plumage,  but  very  shy ;  and  they  rose 
so  far  off  and  flew  so  strongly  and  swiftly 
that  a  good  many  cartridges  were  spent  be- 
fore four  of  the  plump,  white-bellied  birds 
were  brought  back  to  the  wagon  in  my 
pockets. 

Later  than  this  they  sometimes  unite  into 
great  packs  containing  hundreds  of  ind 
uals,  and  then  show  a  strong  preference  for 


i34  HUNTING  TRIPS 

the  timbered  ravines  and  the  dense  woods 
and  underbrush  of  the  river  bottoms,  the  up- 
per branches  of  the  trees  being  their  favorite 
resting-places.  On  very  cold  mornings, 
when  they  are  feeling  numb  and  chilled,  a 
man  can  sometimes  get  very  close  up  to 
them,  but  as  a  rule  they  are  very  wild,  and 
the  few  I  have  killed  at  this  season  of  the 
year  have  been  shot  with  the  rifle,  either  from 
a  tree  or  when  standing  out  on  the  bare  hill- 
sides, at  a  considerable  distance.  They  offer 
very  pretty  marks  for  target  practice  with 
the  rifle,  and  it  needs  a  good  shot  to  hit  one 
at  eighty  or  a  hundred  yards. 

But  though  the  shot-gun  is  generally  of 
no  use  late  in  the  season,  yet  last  December 
I  had  a  good  afternoon's  sport  with  it. 
There  was  a  light  snow  falling,  and  having 
been  in  the  house  all  the  morning,  I  de- 
termined to  take  a  stroll  out  in  the  afternoon 
with  the  shot-gun.  A  couple  of  miles  from 
the  house  was  a  cedar  canyon;  that  is,  a 
canyon  one  of  whose  sides  was  densely 
wooded  with  gnarled,  stunted  evergreens. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


'35 


had  been  a  favorite  resort  for  the  sharp- 
tails  for  some  time,  and  it  was  especially 
likely  that  they  would  go  to  it  during  a  storm, 
as  it  afforded  fine  shelter,  and  also  food. 
The  buttes  bounding  it  on  the  side  where  the 
trees  were,  rose  to  a  sharp  crest,  which  ex- 
tended along  with  occasional  interruptions 
for  over  a  mile,  and  by  walking  along  near 

and  occasionally  looking  out  over  it, 
I  judged  I  would  get  up  close  to  the  grouse, 
while  the  falling  snow  and  the  wind  would 
deaden  the  report  of  the  gun,  and  not  let  it 
scare  all  the  prairie  fowl  out  of  the  canyon 
at  the  first  fire.  It  came  out  as  I  had  planned 
and  expected.  I  clambered  up  to  the  crest 
near  the  mouth  of  the  gorge,  braced  myself 
firmly,  and  looked  over  the  top.  At  once  a 
dozen  sharp-tails,  who  had  perched  in  the 
cedar  tops  almost  at  my  feet,  took  wiii£. 
crossed  over  the  canyon,  and  as  they  rose  all 
in  a  bunch  to  clear  the  opposite  wall  I  fired 
both  barrels  into  the  brown,  and  two  of  the 
birds  dropped  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ravine.  They  fell  on  the  snow-covered  open 


136  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ground  where  I  could  easily  find  them  again, 
and  as  it  would  have  been  a  great  and  useless 
labor  to  have  gone  down  for  them,  I  left 
them  where  they  were  and  walked  on  along 
the  crest.  Before  I  had  gone  a  hundred 
yards  I  had  put  up  another  sharp-tail  from 
a  cedar  and  killed  him  in  fine  style  as  he 
sailed  off  below  me.  The  snow  and  bad 
weather  seemed  to  make  the  prairie  fowl 
disinclined  to  move.  There  must  have  been 
a  good  many  score  of  them  scattered  in 
bunches  among  the  cedars,  and  as  I  walked 
along  I  put  up  a  covey  or  a  single  bird  every 
two  or  three  hundred  yards.  They  were 
always  started  when  I  was  close  up  to  them, 
and  the  nature  of  the  place  made  them  offer 
excellent  shots  as  they  went  off,  while  when 
killed  they  dropped  down  on  the  snow-cov- 
ered canyon  bottom  where  they  could  be 
easily  recovered  on  my  walk  home.  When 
the  sharp- tails  had  once  left  the  canyon  they 
scattered  among  the  broken  buttes.  I  tried 
to  creep  up  to  one  or  two,  but  they  were  fully 
as  wild  and  watchful  as  deer,  and  would  not 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  137 

let  me  come  within  a  hundred  yards  of  them; 
so  I  turned  back,  climbed  down  into  the  can- 
yon, and  walked  homeward  through  it,  pick- 
ing up  nine  birds  on  the  way,  the  result  of 
a  little  over  an  hour's  shooting.  Most  of 
them  were  dead  outright;  and  the  two  or 
three  who  had  been  only  wounded  were  easily 
followed  by  the  tracks  they  made  in  the  tell- 
tale snow. 

Most  of  the  prairie  fowl  I  have  killed, 
ver,  have  not  been  obtained  in  the 
course  of  a  day  or  an  afternoon  regularly 
spent  after  them  for  the  sake  of  the  sport, 
but  have  simply  been  shot  with  whatever 
weapon  came  handy,  because  we  actually 
needed  them  for  immediate  use.  On  more 
than  one  occasion  I  would  have  gone  sup- 
perless  or  dinnerless  had  it  not  been  for 
some  of  these  grouse;  and  one  such  in- 
stance I  will  give. 

One  November,  about  the  middle  of  the 
month,  we  had  driven  in  a  beef  herd  (which 
we  wished  to  ship  to  the  cattle  yards), 
round  the  old  cantonment  building,  in 


I38  HUNTING  TRIPS 

which  a  few  years  ago  troops  had  been 
stationed  to  guard  against  Indian  out- 
breaks. Having  taken  care  of  the  beef 
herd,  I  determined  to  visit  a  little  bunch 
of  cattle  which  was  some  thirty-five  miles 
down  the  river,  under  the  care  of  one  of 
my  men — a  grizzled  old  fellow,  born  in 
Maine,  whose  career  had  been  varied  to  an 
extent  only  possible  in  America,  he  having 
successively  followed  the  occupations  of 
seaman,  druggist,  clerk,  buffalo  hunter,  and 
cowboy. 

I  intended  to  start  about  noon,  but  there 
was  so  much  business  to  settle  that  it  was 
an  hour  and  a  half  afterwards  before  I  put 
spurs  to  the  smart  little  cow-pony  and  loped 
briskly  down  the  valley.  It  was  a  sharp 
day,  the  mercury  well  down  towards  zero ; 
and  the  pony,  fresh  and  untired,  and  im- 
patient of  standing  in  the  cold,  went  along 
at  a  good  rate ;  but  darkness  sets  in  so  early 
at  this  season  that  I  had  not  gone  many 
miles  before  I  began  to  fear  that  I  would 
not  reach  the  shack  by  nightfall.  The  well- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  139 

beaten  trail  followed  along  the  bottoms  for 
some  distance  and  then  branched  out  into 
the  Bad  Lands,  leading  up  and  down 
through  the  ravines  and  over  the  ridge 
crests  of  some  very  rough  and  broken  coun- 
try, and  crossing  a  great  level  plateau,  over 
which  the  wind  blew  savagely,  swec 
the  powdery  snow  clean  off  of  the  bent 
blades  of  short,  brown  grass.  After  ma- 
king a  wide  circle  of  some  twelve  miles  the 
trail  again  came  back  to  the  Little 
souri,  and  led  along  the  bottoms  between 
the  rows  of  high  bluffs,  continually  cross- 
ing and  recrossing  the  river.  These  cross- 
ings were  difficult  and  disagreeable  for  the 
horse,  as  they  always  are  when  the  ice  is 
not  quite  heavy  enough  to  bear.  The  water 
had  not  frozen  until  two  or  three  days  be- 
fore, and  the  cold  snap  had  not  yet  lasted 
long  enough  to  make  the  ice  solid,  besides 
which  it  was  covered  with  about  half  an 
inch  of  light  snow  that  had  fallen,  conceal- 
ing all  bad-looking  places.  The  ice  after 
bearing  the  cautiously  stepping  pony  for  a 


1 40  HUNTING  TRIPS 

few  yards  would  suddenly  break  and  let 
him  down  to  the  bottom,  and  he  would  then 
have  to  plunge  and  paw  his  way  through 
to  the  opposite  shore.  Often  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  make  a  pony  attempt  the 
crossing  under  such  circumstances;  and  I 
have  seen  ponies  which  had  to  be  knocked 
down  and  pulled  across  glare  ice  on  their 
sides.  If  the  horse  slips  and  falls  it  is  a 
serious  matter  to  the  rider ;  for  a  wetting  in 
such  cold  weather,  with  a  long  horseback 
journey  to  make,  is  no  joke. 

I  was  still  several  miles  from  the  hut  I 
was  striving  to  reach  when  the  sun  set ;  and 
for  some  time  previous  the  valley  had  been 
in  partial  darkness,  though  the  tops  of  the 
sombre  bluffs  around  were  still  lit  up.  The 
pony  loped  steadily  on  along  the  trail, 
which  could  be  dimly  made  out  by  the  star- 
light. I  hurried  the  willing  little  fellow  all  I 
could  without  distressing  him,  for  though 
I  knew  the  road  pretty  well,  yet  I  doubted 
if  I  could  find  it  easily  in  perfect  darkness ; 
and  the  clouds  were  gathering  overhead 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  141 

with  a  rapidity  which  showed  that  the  star- 
light would  last  but  a  short  while.  The 
light  snow  rendered  the  hoof  beats  of  my 
horse  muffled  and  indistinct ;  and  almost  the 
only  sound  that  broke  the  silence  was  the 
longdrawn,  melancholy  howling  of  a  wolf, 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  off.  When  we  came  to 
the  last  crossing  the  pony  was  stopped  and 
watered;  and  we  splashed  through  over  a 
rapid  where  the  ice  had  formed  only  a  thin 
crust.  On  the  opposite  side  was  a  large 
patch  of  cotton-woods  thickly  grown  up 
with  underbrush,  the  whole  about  half  a 
mile  square.  In  this  was  the  cowboy's 
shack,  but  as  it  was  now  pitch  dark  I  was 
unable  to  find  it  until  I  rode  clean  through 
to  the  cow-corral,  which  was  out  in  the 
open  on  the  other  side.  Here  I  dismounted, 
groped  around  till  I  found  the  path,  and 
then  easily  followed  it  to  the  shack. 

Rather  to  my  annoyance  the  cowboy  was 
away,  having  run  out  of  provisions,  as  I 
afterwards  learned;  and  of  course  he  had 
left  nothing  to  eat  behind  him.  The  tough 


i42  HUNTING  TRIPS 

little  pony  was,  according  to  custom,  turned 
loose  to  shift  for  himself;  and  I  went  into 
the  low,  windowless  hut,  which  was  less 
than  twelve  feet  square.  In  one  end  was  a 
great  chimney-place,  and  it  took  but  a  short 
time  to  start  a  roaring  fire  which  speedily 
made  the  hut  warm  and  comfortable.  Then 
I  went  down  to  the  river  with  an  axe  and  a 
pail,  and  got  some  water;  I  had  carried  a 
paper  of  tea  in  my  pocket,  and  the  tea- 
kettle was  soon  simmering  away.  I  should 
have  liked  something  to  eat,  but  as  I  did  not 
have  it,  the  hot  tea  did  not  prove  such  a  bad 
substitute  for  a  cold  and  tired  man. 

Next  morning  I  sallied  out  at  break  of 
day  with  the  rifle,  for  I  was  pretty  hungry. 
As  soon  as  I  stepped  from  the  hut  I  could 
hear  the  prairie  fowl  crowing  and  calling 
to  one  another  from  the  tall  trees.  There 
were  many  score — many  hundreds  would 
perhaps  be  more  accurate — scattered 
through  the  wood.  Evidently  they  had 
been  attracted  by  the  good  cover  and  by  the 
thick  growth  of  choke-cherries  and  wild 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 

plums.  As  the  dawn  brightened  the  sharp- 
is  kept  up  incessantly  their  hoarse  cluck- 
ing, and  small  parties  began  to  fly  down 
from  their  roosts  to  the  berry  bushes. 
While  perched  up  among  the  bare  limbs  of 
the  trees,  sharply  outlined  against  the  sky, 
they  were  very  conspicuous.  General!/ 
they  crouched  close  down,  with  the  head 
drawn  in  to  the  body  and  the  feathers  ruf- 
fled, but  when  alarmed  or  restless  they 
stood  up  straight  with  their  necks  stretched 
out,  looking  very  awkward.  Later  in  the 
day  they  would  have  been  wild  and  hard  to 
approach,  but  I  kept  out  of  their  sight,  and 
sometimes  got  two  or  three  shots  at  the 
same  bird  before  it  flew  off.  They  offered 
beautiful  marks,  and  I  could  generally  get  a 
rest  for  my  rifle,  while  in  the  gray  morning, 
before  sunrise,  I  was  not  very  conspicuous 
myself,  and  could  get  up  close  beneath 
where  they  were;  so  I  did  not  have  mi. 
trouble  in  killing  five,  almost  all  of  them 
shot  very  nearly  where  the  neck  joins  the 
body,  one  having  the  head  fairly  cut  off. 


144  HUNTING  TRIPS 

Salt,  like  tea,  I  had  carried  with  me,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  two  of  the  birds, 
plucked  and  cleaned,  were  split  open  and 
roasting  before  the  fire.  And  to  me  they 
seemed  most  delicious  food,  although,  i 
in  November  the  sharp-tails,  while  keeping 
their  game  flavor,  have  begun  to  be  dry  and 
tough,  most  unlike  the  tender  and  juicy 
young  of  August  and  September. 

The  best  day's  work  I  ever  did  after 
sharp-tails  was  in  the  course  of  the  wagon 
trip,  already  mentioned,  which  my  brother 
and  I  made  through  the  fertile  farming 
country  to  the  eastward.  We  had  stopped 
over  night  with  a  Norwegian  settler  who 
had  taken  and  adapted  to  a  farmhouse  an 
old  log  trading-post  of  one  of  the  fur  com- 
panies, lying  in  the  timber  which  fringed 
a  river,  and  so  stoutly  built  as  to  have 
successfully  withstood  the  assaults  of  time. 
We  were  travelling  in  a  light  covered 
wagon,  in  which  we  could  drive  anywhere 
over  the  prairie.  Our  dogs  would  have 
made  an  Eastern  sportsman  blush,  for  when 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 

roughing  it  in  the  West  we  have  to  put  up 
with  any  kind  of  mongrel  makeshift,  and 
the  best  dog  gets  pretty  well  battered  after 
a  season  or  two.  I  never  had  a  better  duck 
retriever  than  a  little  yellow  cur,  with 
hardly  a  trace  of  hunting  blood  in  his 
veins.  On  this  occasion  we  had  a  stiff- 
jointed  old  pointer  with  a  stub  tail,  and  a 
wild  young  setter  pup,  tireless  and  rang- 
ing very  free  (a  Western  dog  on  the 
prairies  should  cover  five  times  the  ground 
necessary  for  an  Eastern  one  to  get  over), 
but  very  imperfectly  trained. 

Half  of  the  secret  of  success  on  a  shoot- 
ing trip  lies  in  getting  up  early  and  work- 
ing all  day;  and  this  at  least  we  had 
learned,  for  we  were  off  as  soon  as  there 
was  light  enough  by  which  to  drive.  The 
ground,  of  course,  was  absolutely  fenceless, 
houses  being  many  miles  apart.  Through 
the  prairie,  with  its  tall  grass,  in  which  the 
sharp-tails  lay  at  night  and  during  the  day, 
were  scattered  great  grain  fields,  their  feed- 
ing-grounds in  the  morning  and  evening. 


146  HUNTING  TRIPS 

Our  plan  was  to  drive  from  one  field  to  an- 
other, getting  out  at  each  and  letting  the 
dogs  hunt  it  over.  The  birds  were  in  small 
coveys  and  lay  fairly  well  to  the  dogs, 
though  they  rose  much  farther  off  from  us 
in  the  grain  fields  than  they  did  later  in  the 
day  when  we  flushed  them  from  the  tall 
grass  of  the  prairie  (I  call  it  tall  grass 
in  contradistinction  to  the  short  bunch 
grass  of  the  cattle  plains  to  the  westward). 
Old  stub-tail,  though  slow,  was  very 
staunch  and  careful,  never  flushing  a  bird, 
while  the  puppy,  from  pure  heedlessness, 
and  with  the  best  intentions,  would  some- 
times bounce  into  the  midst  of  a  covey  be- 
fore he  knew  of  their  presence.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  covered  twice  the  ground 
that  the  pointer  did.  The  actual  killing  the 
birds  was  a  good  deal  like  quail  shooting 
in  the  East,  except  that  it  was  easier,  the 
marks  being  so  much  larger.  When  we 
came  to  a  field  we  would  beat  through  it  a 
hundred  yards  apart,  the  dogs  ranging  in 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  147 

long  diagonals.  When  either  the  setter  or 
the  pointer  came  to  a  stand,  the  other  gen- 
erally backed  him.  If  the  covey  was  near 
enough,  both  of  us,  otherwise,  whichever 
was  closest,  walked  cautiously  up.  The 
grouse  generally  flushed  before  we  came 
up  to  the  dog,  rising  all  together,  so  as  to 
give  only  a  right  and  left. 

When  the  morning  was  well  advanced 
the  grouse  left  the  stubble  fields  and  flew 
into  the  adjoining  prairie.  We  marked 
down  several  coveys  into  one  spot,  where 
the  ground  was  rolling  and  there  were 
here  and  there  a  few  bushes  in  the  hol- 
lows. Carefully  hunting  over  this,  we 
found  two  or  three  coveys  and  had  ex- 
cellent sport  out  of  each.  The  sharp- 
tails  in  these  places  lay  very  close,  and  we 
had  to  walk  them  up,  when  they  rose  one  at 
a  time,  and  thus  allowed  us  shot  after  shot ; 
whereas,  as  already  said,  earlier  in  the  day 
we  merely  got  a  quick  right  and  left  at 
each  covey.  At  least  half  the  time  we  were 


i48  HUNTING  TRIPS 

shooting  in  our  rubber  overcoats,  as  the 
weather  was  cloudy  and  there  were  fre- 
quent flurries  of  rain. 

We  rested  a  couple  of  hours  at  noon  for 
lunch,  and  the  afternoon's  sport  was  simply 
a  repetition  of  the  morning's,  except  that 
we  had  but  one  dog  to  work  with;  for 
shortly  after  mid-day  the  stub-tail  pointer, 
for  his  sins,  encountered  a  skunk,  with 
which  he  waged  prompt  and  valiant  battle 
— thereby  rendering  himself,  for  the  bal- 
ance of  the  time,  wholly  useless  as  a  servant 
and  highly  offensive  as  a  companion. 

The  setter  pup  did  well,  ranging  very 
freely,  but  naturally  got  tired  and  careless, 
flushing  his  birds  half  the  time;  and  we 
had  to  stop  when  we  still  had  a  good  hour 
of  daylight  left.  Nevertheless  we  had  in 
our  wagon,  when  we  came  in  at  night,  a 
hundred  and  five  grouse,  of  which  sixty- 
two  had  fallen  to  my  brother's  gun,  and 
forty-three  to  mine.  We  would  have  done 
much  better  with  more  serviceable  dogs; 
besides,  I  was  suffering  all  day  long  from 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


149 


a  most  acute  colic,  which  was  any  thing  but 
a  help  to  good  shooting. 

Besides  the  sharp-tail  there  is  but  one 
kind  of  grouse  found  in  the  northern  cattle 
plains.  This  is  the  sage  cock,  a  bird  the 
size  of  a  young  turkey,  and,  next  to  the 
Old  World  capercailzie  or  cock  of  the 
woods,  the  largest  of  the  grouse  family.  It 
is  a  handsome  bird  with  a  long  pointed 
tail  and  black  belly,  and  is  a  very  char- 
acterisic  form  of  the  regions  which  it  in- 
habits. 

It  is  peculiarly  a  desert  grouse,  for  though 
sometimes  found  in  the  grassy  prairies  and 
on  the  open  river  bottoms,  it  seems  really  to 
prefer  the  dry  arid  wastes  where  the  with- 
ered-looking sage-brush  and  the  spiney 
cactus  are  almost  the  only  plants  to  be 
found,  and  where  the  few  pools  of  water 
are  so  bitterly  alkaline  as  to  be  nearly  un- 
drinkable.  It  is  pre-eminently  the  grouse 
of  the  plains,  and,  unlike  all  of  its  relatives, 
is  never  found  near  trees;  indeed  no  trees 
grow  in  its  haunts. 


1 5o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

As  is  the  case  with  the  two  species  of 
prairie  fowl  the  cocks  of  this  great  bird 
become  very  noisy  in  the  early  spring.  If 
-  a  man  happens  at  that  season  to  be  out  in 
the  dry  plains  which  are  frequented  by  the 
sage  fowl  he  will  hear  in  the  morning,  be- 
fore sunrise,  the  deep,  sonorous  booming 
of  the  cocks,  as  they  challenge  one  another 
or  call  to  their  mates.  This  call  is  uttered 
in  a  hollow,  bass  tone,  and  can  be  heard  a 
long  distance  in  still  weather;  it  is  difficult 
to  follow  up,  for  it  has  a  very  ventriloquial 
effect. 

Unlike  the  sharp-tail  the  habits  and 
haunts  of  the  sage  fowl  are  throughout  the 
year  the  same,  except  that  it  grows  shyer 
as  the  season  advances,  and  occasionally 
wanders  a  little  farther  than  formerly  from 
its  birthplace.  It  is  only  found  where  the 
tough,  scraggly  wild  sage  abounds,  and  it 
feeds  for  most  of  the  year  solely  on  sage 
leaves,  varying  this  diet  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember by  quantities  of  grasshoppers.  Cur- 
iously enough  it  does  not  possess  any  giz- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  151 

zard,  such  as  most  gallinaceous  birds  have, 
but  has  in  its  place  a  membranous  stomach, 
suited  to  the  digestion  of  its  peculiar  food. 

The  little  chicks  follow  their  mother  as 
soon  as  hatched,  and  she  generally  keeps 
them  in  the  midst  of  some  patch  of  sage- 
brush so  dense  as  to  be  almost  impene- 
irable  to  man  or  beast.  The  little  fellows 
skulk  and  dodge  through  the  crooked 
stems  so  cleverly  that  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  catch  them.  Early  in  August, 
when  the  brood  is  well  grown,  the  mother 
leads  them  out,  and  during  the  next  two 
months  they  are  more  often  found  out  on 
the  grassy  prairies  than  is  the  case  at  any 
other  season.  They  do  not  form  into  packs 
like  the  prairie  fowl  as  winter  comes  on, 
two  broods  at  the  outside  occasionally  com- 
ing together ;  and  they  then  again  retire  to 
the  more  waste  parts  of  the  plains,  living 
purely  on  sage  leaves,  and  keeping  closely 
to  the  best-sheltered  hollows  until  the 
spring-time. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  season  the  young, 


152  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  indeed  their  parents  also,  are  tame  and 
unsuspicious  to  the  very  verge  of  stupidity, 
and  at  this  time  are  often  known  by  the 
name  of  "  fool-hens  "  among  the  frontiers- 
men. They  grow  shyer  as  the  season  ad- 
vances, and  after  the  first  of  October  are 
difficult  to  approach,  but  even  then  are 
rarely  as  wild  as  the  sharp-tails. 

It  is  commonly  believed  that  the  flesh  of 
the  sage  fowl  is  uneatable,  but  this  is  very- 
far  from  being  the  truth,  and,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  excellent  eating  in  August 
and  September,  when  grasshoppers  con- 
stitute their  chief  food,  and,  if  the  birds  are 
drawn  as  soon  as  shot,  is  generally  per- 
fectly palatable  at  other  seasons  of  the  year. 
The  first  time  I  happened  to  find  this  out 
was  on  the  course  of  a  trip  taken  with  one 
of  my  foremen  as  a  companion  through  the 
arid  plains  to  the  westward  of  the  Little 
Missouri.  We  had  been  gone  for  two  or 
three  days  and  camped  by  a  mud  hole, 
which  was  almost  dry,  what  water  it  still 
held  being  almost  as  thick  as  treacle.  Our 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  153 

luxuries  being  limited,  I  bethought  me  of 
a  sage  cock  which  I  had  shot  during  the 
and  had  hung  to  the  saddle.  I  had 
drawn  it  as  soon  as  it  was  picked  up,  and 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  try  how  it  tasted.  A 
good  deal  to  our  surprise,  the  meat,  though 
dark  and  coarse-grained,  proved  perfectly 
well  flavored,  and  was  quite  as  good  as 
wild-goose,  which  it  much  resembled.  Some 
young  sage  fowl,  shot  shortly  afterward, 
proved  tender  and  juicy,  and  tasted  quite  as 
well  as  sharp-tails.  All  of  these  birds  had 
their  crops  crammed  with  grasshoppers, 
and  doubtless  the  nature  of  their  food  had 
much  to  do  with  their  proving  so  good  for 
the  table.  An  old  bird,  which  had  fed  on 
nothing  but  sage,  and  was  not  drawn  when 
shot,  would,  beyond  question,  be  very  poor 
eating.  Like  the  spruce  grouse  and  the  two 
kinds  of  prairie  fowl,  but  unlike  the  ruffed 
grouse  and  blue  grouse,  the  sage  fowl  has 
dark  meat. 

In  walking  and  running  on  the  ground, 
sage  fowl  act  much  like  common  hens,  and 


i54  HUNTING  TRIPS 

can  skulk  through  the  sage-brush  so  fast 
that  it  is  often  difficult  to  make  them  take 
wing.  When  surprised  they  will  sometimes 
squat  flat  down  with  their  heads  on  tiu- 
ground,  when  it  is  very  difficult  to  make 
them  out,  as  their  upper  parts  harmonize 
curiously  in  color  with  the  surroundings. 
I  have  never  known  of  their  being  shot  over 
a  dog,  and,  indeed,  the  country  where  they 
are  found  is  so  dry  and  difficult  that  no 
dog  would  be  able  to  do  any  work  in  it. 

When  flushed,  they  rise  with  a  loud 
whirring,  laboring  heavily,  often  clucking 
hoarsely;  when  they  get  fairly  under  way 
they  move  along  in  a  strong,  steady  flight, 
sailing  most  of  the  time,  but  giving,  every 
now  and  then,  a  succession  of  powerful 
wing-beats,  and  their  course  is  usually  sus- 
tained for  a  mile  or  over  before  they  light. 
They  are  very  easy  marks,  but  require  hard 
hitting  to  bring  them  down,  for  they  are 
very  tenacious  of  life.  On  one  occasion  I 
came  upon  a  flock  and  shot  an  old  cock 
through  the  body  with  the  rifle.  He  fell  over, 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  155 

fluttering  and  kicking,  and  I  shot  a  young 
one  before  the  rest  of  the  flock  rose.  To  my 
astonishment  the  old  cock  recovered  him- 
self and  made  off  after  them,  actually  flying 
for  half  a  mile  before  he  dropped.  When 
I  found  him  he  was  quite  dead,  the  ball 
having  gone  clean  through  him.  It  was  a 
good  deal  as  if  a  man  had  run  a  mile  with 
a  large  grapeshot  through  his  body. 

Most  of  the  sage  fowl  I  have  killed  have 
been  shot  with  the  rifle  when  I  happened 
to  run  across  a  covey  while  out  riding,  and 
wished  to  take  two  or  three  of  them  back 
for  dinner.  Only  once  did  I  ever  make  a 
trip  with  the  shot-gun  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  a  day's  sport  with  these  birds. 

This  was  after  having  observed  that  there 
were  several  small  flocks  of  sage  fowl  at 
home  on  a  great  plateau  or  high  plain, 
crossed  by  several  dry  creeks,  which  \v:is 
about  eight  miles  from  the  cow-camp  where 
I  was  staying ;  and  I  concluded  that  I  would 
devote  a  day  to  their  pursuit.  Accordingly, 
one  morning  I  started  out  on  horseback 


156  HUNTING  TRIPS 

with  my  double-barrel  lo-bore  and  a  supply 
of  cartridges  loaded  with  No.  4  shot;  one 
of  my  cowboys  went  with  me  carrying  a 
rifle  so  as  to  be  ready  if  we  ran  across  any 
antelope.  Our  horses  were  fresh,  and  the 
only  way  to  find  the  birds  was  to  cover  as 
much  ground  as  possible ;  so  as  soon  as  we 
reached  the  plateau  we  loped  across  it  in 
parallel  lines  till  we  struck  one  of  the 
creeks,  when  we  went  up  it,  one  on  each 
side,  at  a  good  gait,  and  then  crossed  over 
to  another,  where  we  repeated  the  opera- 
tion. It  was  nearly  noon  when,  while  going 
up  the  third  creek,  we  ran  into  a  covey  of 
about  fifteen  sage  fowl — a  much  larger 
covey  than  ordinary.  They  were  down  in 
the  bottom  of  the  creek,  which  here  ex- 
hibited a  formation  very  common  on  the 
plains.  Although  now  perfectly  dry,  every 
series  of  heavy  rainfalls  changed  it  into  a 
foaming  torrent,  which  flowed  down  the 
valley  in  sharp  curves,  eating  away  the  land 
into  perpendicular  banks  on  the  outside  of 
each  curve.  Thus  a  series  of  small  bottoms 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  157 

was  formed,  each  fronted  by  a  semicircular 
bluff,  highest  in  the  middle,  and  rising  per- 
fectly sheer  and  straight.  At  the  foot  of 
these  bluffs,  which  varied  from  six  to  thirty 
feet  in  height,  was  the  bed  of  the  stream. 
In  many  of  these  creeks  there  will  be  a 
growth  of  small  trees  by  the  stream  bed, 
where  it  runs  under  the  bluffs,  and  perhaps 
pools  of  water  will  be  found  in  such  places 
even  in  times  of  drought.  But  on  the  creek 
where  we  found  the  sage  fowl  there  were 
neither  trees  nor  water,  and  the  little  bot- 
toms were  only  covered  with  stunted  sage- 
brush. Dismounting  and  leaving  my  horse 
with  the  cowboy  I  walked  down  to  the  edge 
of  the  bottom,  which  was  not  more  than 
thirty  or  forty  yards  across.  The  covey  re- 
treated into  the  brush,  some  of  the  birds 
crouching  flat  down,  while  the  others 
walked  or  ran  off  among  the  bushes.  They 
were  pretty  tame,  and  rose  one  at  a  time  as 
I  walked  on.  They  had  to  rise  over  the 
low,  semicircular  bluff  in  front  of  them, 
and,  it  being  still  early  in  the  season,  they 


158  HUNTING  TRIPS 

labored  heavily  as  they  left  the  ground. 
I  fired  just  as  they  topped  the  bluff,  and 
as  they  were  so  close  and  large,  and  were 
going  so  slowly,  I  was  able  to  knock  over 
eight  birds,  hardly  moving  from  my  place 
during  the  entire  time.  On  our  way  back 
we  ran  into  another  covey,  a  much  smaller 
one,  on  the  side  of  another  creek ;  of  these  I 
got  a  couple ;  and  I  got  another  out  of  still 
a  third  covey,  which  we  found  out  in  the 
open,  but  of  which  the  birds  all  rose  and 
made  off  together.  We  carried  eleven 
birds  back,  most  of  them  young  and  tender, 
and  all  of  them  good  eating. 

In  shooting  grouse  we  sometimes  run 
across  rabbits.  There  are  two  kinds  of 
these.  One  is  the  little  cottontail,  almost 
precisely  similar  in  appearance  to  the  com- 
mon gray  rabbit  of  the  Eastern  woods.  It 
abounds  in  all  the  patches  of  dense  cover 
along  the  river  bottoms  and  in  the  larger 
creeks,  and  can  be  quite  easily  shot  at  all 
times,  but  especially  when  there  is  any 
snow  on  the  ground.  It  is  eatable  but 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  159 

hardly   ever   killed   except   to   poison   and 
throw  out  as  bait  for  the  wolves. 

The  other  kind  is  the  great  jack  rabbit. 
This  is  a  characteristic  animal  of  the  plains ; 
quite  as  much  so  as  the  antelope  or  prairie 
dog.  It  is  not  very  abundant,  but  is 
found  everywhere  over  the  open  ground, 
both  on  the  prairie  or  those  river  bottoms 
which  are  not  wooded,  and  in  the  more 
open  valleys  and  along  the  gentle  slopes  of 
the  Bad  Lands.  Sometimes  it  keeps  to  the 
patches  of  sage-brush,  and  in  such  cases 
will  lie  close  to  the  ground  when  ap- 
proached ;  but  more  often  it  is  found  in  the 
short  grass  where  there  is  no  cover  at  all 
to  speak  of,  and  relies  upon  its  speed  for  its 
safety.  It  is  a  comical-looking  beast  with 
its  huge  ears  and  long  legs,  and  runs  very 
fast,  with  a  curious  lop-sided  gait,  as  if  it 
was  off  its  balance.  After  running  a  couple 
of  hundred  yards  it  will  generally  stop  and 
sit  up  erect  on  its  haunches  to  look  round 
and  see  if  it  is  pursued.  In  winter  it 
turns  snow-white  except  that  the  tips  of  the 


160  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ears  remain  black.  The  flesh  is  dry,  and  I 
have  never  eaten  it  unless  I  could  get  noth- 
ing else. 

Jack-rabbits  are  not  plentiful  enough  nor 
valuable  enough  to  warrant  a  man's  making 
a  hunting  trip  solely  for  their  sakes;  and 
the  few  that  I  have  shot  have  been  killed 
with  the  rifle  while  out  after  other  game. 
They  offer  beautiful  marks  for  target  prac- 
tice when  they  sit  upon  their  haunches.  But 
though  hardly  worth  powder  they  afford 
excellent  sport  when  coursed  with  grey- 
hounds, being  very  fleet,  and  when  closely 
pressed  able  to  double  so  quickly  that  the 
dogs  shoot  by  them.  For  reasons  already 
given,  however,  it  is  difficult  to  keep  sport- 
ing dogs  on  the  plains,  though  doubtless  in 
the  future  coursing  with  greyhounds  will 
become  a  recognized  Western  sport. 

This  finishes  the  account  of  the  small 
game  of  the  northern  cattle  country.  The 
wild  turkey  is  not  found  with  us ;  but  it  is 
an  abundant  bird  farther  south,  and  eagerly 
followed  by  the  ranchmen  in  whose  neigh- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  161 

borhood  it  exists.  And  as  it  is  easily  the 
king  of  all  game  birds,  and  as  its  pursuit 
is  a  peculiarly  American  form  of  sport, 
account  of  how  it  is  hunted  in  the 
southern  plains  country  may  be  worth 
reading.  The  following  is  an  extract  from 
a  letter  written  to  me  by  my  brother,  in 
December,  1875,  while  he  was  in  Texas, 
containing  an  account  of  some  of  his  turkey- 
hunting  experience  in  that  State.  The 
portion  relating  how  the  birds  are  coursed 
with  greyhounds  is  especially  markworthy; 
it  reminds  one  of  the  method  of  killing  the 
great  bustard  with  gazehounds,  as  de- 
scribed in  English  sporting  books  of  two 
centuries  back. 

"  Here,  some  hundred  miles  south  and 
west  of  Fort  McKavett,  are  the  largest 
turkey  roosts  in  the  world.  This  beautiful 
fertile  valley,  through  which  the  deep,  silent 
stream  of  the  Llano  flows,  is  densely 
wooded  with  grand  old  pecan  trees  along 
its  banks;  as  are  those  of  its  minor  tribu- 
taries which  come  boiling  down  from  off 


1 62  HUNTING  TRIPS 

the  immense  upland  water-shed  of  the 
staked  plains,  cutting  the  sides  of  the 
'  divide  '  into  narrow  canyons.  The  jour- 
ney to  this  sportsman's  paradise  was  over 
the  long-rolling  plains  of  Western  Texas. 
Hour  after  hour  through  the  day's  travel 
we  would  drop  into  the  trough  of  some 
great  plains-wave  only  to  toil  on  up  to  the 
crest  of  the  next,  and  be  met  by  an  endless 
vista  of  boundless,  billowy-looking  prairie. 
We  were  following  the  old  Fort  Terret 
trail,  its  ruts  cut  so  deep  in  the  prairie  soil 
by  the  heavy  supply  wagons  that  these  ten 
years  have  not  healed  the  scars  in  the 
earth's  face.  At  last,  after  journeying  for 
leagues  through  the  stunted  live  oaks,  we 
saw  from  the  top  of  one  of  the  larger 
divides  a  dark  bluish  line  against  the  hori- 
zon,— the  color  of  distant  leafless  trees, — 
and  knew  that  it  meant  we  should  soon 
open  out  the  valley.  Another  hour  brought 
us  over  the  last  divide,  and  then  our  hunt- 
ing grounds  lay  before  and  below  us.  All 
along  through  the  unbroken  natural  fields 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  163 

ihe  black-tail  and  prong-horn  abound,  and 
feast  to  their  heart's  content  all  the  winter 
through  on  the  white,  luscious,  and  nutri- 
tious mesquite  grass.  Through  the  valley 
with  its  flashing  silver  stream  ran  the  dark 
line  of  the  famous  pecan-tree  forests — the 
nightly  resting-place  of  that  king  of  game 
birds,  the  wild  turkey.  It  would  sound  like 
romancing  to  tell  of  the  endless  number  and 
variety  of  the  waterfowl  upon  the  river; 
while  the  multitude  of  game  fish  inhabiting 
the  waters  make  the  days  spent  on  the  river 
with  the  rod  rival  in  excitement  and  good 
sport  the  nights  passed  gun  in  hand  among 
the  trees  in  the  roosts.  Of  course,  as  we  are 
purely  out  on  a  turkey  shoot,  during  the 
day  no  louder  sport  is  permitted  than  whip- 
ping the  stream,  or  taking  the  greyhounds 
well  back  on  the  plains  away  from  the  river 
to  course  antelope,  jack-rabbit,  or  maybe 
even  some  fine  old  gobbler  himself. 

"  When,  after  our  journey,  we  reached 
the  brink  of  the  canyon,  to  drop  down  into 
the  valley,  pass  over  the  lowlands,  and  settle 


1 64  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ourselves  comfortably  in  camp  under  the 
shadow  of  the  old  stockade  fort  by  the 
river,  was  a  matter  of  but  a  few  hours. 
There  we  waited  for  the  afternoon  shadows 
to  lengthen  and  the  evening  to  come,  when 
off  we  went  up  the  stream  for  five  or  six 
miles  to  a  spot  where  some  mighty  forest 
monarchs  with  huge,  bare,  spreading  limbs 
had  caught  the  eye  of  one  of  our  sporting 
scouts  in  the  afternoon.  Leaving  our 
horses  half  a  mile  from  the  place,  we  walked 
silently  along  the  river  bank  through  the 
jungle  to  the  roosting  trees,  where  we  scat- 
tered, and  each  man  secreted  himself  as  best 
he  could  in  the  underbrush,  or  in  a  hollow 
stump,  or  in  the  reeds  of  the  river  itself. 
The  sun  was  setting,  and  over  the  hills  and 
from  the  lowlands  came  the  echoes  of  the 
familiar  gobble,  gobble,  gobble,  as  each 
strutting,  foolishly  proud  cock  headed  his 
admiring  family  for  the  roost,  after  their 
day's  feeding  on  the  uplands.  Soon,  as  I 
lay  close  and  hushed  in  my  hiding-place, 
sounds  like  the  clinking  of  silver,  followed 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  165 

by  what  seemed  like  a  breath  of  the  wind 
rushing  through  the  trees,  struck  my  ears. 
I  hardly  dared  breathe,  for  the  sounds  were 
made  by  the  snapping  of  a  gobbler's  quills 
and  his  rustling  feathers;  and  immediately 
a  magnificent  old  bird,  swelling  and  cluck- 
ing, bullying  his  wives  and  abusing  his 
weaker  children  to  the  last,  trod  majes- 
tically down  to  the  water's  edge,  and,  after 
taking  his  evening  drink,  winged  his  way  to 
his  favorite  bough  above,  where  he  was 
joined,  one  by  one,  by  his  family  and  re- 
lations and  friends,  who  came  by  tens  and 
dozens  from  the  surrounding  country. 
Soon  in  the  rapidly  darkening  twilight  the 
superb  old  pecan  trees  looked  as  if  they 
were  bending  under  a  heavy  crop  of  the 
most  odd-shaped  and  lively  kind  of  fruit. 
The  air  was  filled  with  the  peevish  pi-ou! 
pi-ou!  of  the  sleepy  birds.  Gradually  the 
noisy  fluttering  subsided,  and  the  last  faint 
unsettled  peep  even  was  hushed.  Dead 
siknce  reigned,  and  we  waited  and  watched. 
The  moon  climbed  up,  and  in  another 


1 66  HUNTING  TRIPS 

hour,  as  we  looked  through  the  tree-tops, 
we  could  make  out  against  the  light  back- 
ground of  the  sky,  almost  as  clearly  as  by 
day,  the  sleeping  victims  of  our  guns  and 
rifles.  A  low  soft  whistle  was  passed  along 
from  man  to  man;  and  the  signal  given, 
how  different  the  scene  became !  A  deafen- 
ing report  suddenly  rang  out  into  the  silent 
night,  a  flash  of  light  belched  from  the  gun 
muzzle,  and  a  heavy  thud  followed  as 
twenty  pounds  of  turkey  struck  the  ground. 
In  our  silent  moccasins  we  flitted  about 
under  the  roost,  and  report  after  report  on 
all  sides  told  how  good  the  sport  was  and 
how  excellent  the  chance  that  the  boys  at 
McKavett  would  have  plenty  of  turkeys  at 
their  Christmas  dinner.  The  turkeys  were 
so  surprised  by  the  sudden  noise,  so  entirely 
unprepared  for  the  visit  of  the  sportsman 
to  their  secluded  retreat,  that  they  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  it,  often  remaining 
stupidly  on  their  branch  after  a  companion 
five  feet  off  had  been  shot  down.  With 
the  last  bird  shot  or  flown  away  ended  our 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  167 

evening's  sport.  All  the  dead  birds  were 
gathered  together  and  strapped  in  bunches 
by  our  saddles  and  on  the  pack-mules.  It 
does  not  take  many  pecan-  and  grass-fed 
turkeys  to  make  a  load,  and  back  we  trotted 
to  camp,  the  steel  hoofs  striking  into  the 
prairie  soil  with  a  merry  ring  of  triumph 
over  the  night's  work.  The  hour  was  nearly 
midnight  when  we  sat  down  to  the  deli- 
cately browned  turkey  steaks  in  the  mess 
tent,  and  realized  that  we  had  enjoyed  the 
delights  of  one  of  the  best  sports  in  Texas 
— turkey-shooting  in  the  roosts. 

"  Early  in  the  afternoon  following  the 
night's  sport  we  left  the  fort  mounted  on 
fine  three-quarter  Kentucky  thorough- 
breds, and  taking  the  eleven  greyhounds, 
struck  off  six  or  eight  miles  into  the  plains. 
Then  spreading  into  line  we  alternated  dogs 
and  horses,  and  keeping  a  general  direc- 
tion, beat  up  the  small  oak  clumps,  grass 
clusters,  or  mesquite  jungles  as  we  went 
along.  Soon,  with  a  loud  whirr  of  wings, 
three  or  four  turkeys  rose  out  of  the  grass 


x68  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ahead,  started  up  by  one  of  the  greyhounds ; 
the  rest  of  the  party  closed  in  from  all 
sides ;  dogs  and  men  choosing  each  the  bird 
they  marked  as  theirs.  The  turkey,  after 
towering  a  bit,  with  wings  set  struck  off 
at  a  pace  like  a  bullet,  and  with  eyes  fixed 
upwards  the  hounds  coursed  after  him.  It 
was  whip  and  spur  for  a  mile  as  hard  as 
horse,  man,  and  hound  could  make  the  pace. 
The  turkey  at  last  came  down  nearer  and 
nearer  the  ground,  its  small  wings  refusing 
to  bear  the  weight  of  the  heavy  body. 
Finally,  down  he  came  and  began  running ; 
then  the  hounds  closed  in  on  him  and 
forced  him  up  again  as  is  always  the  case. 
The  second  flight  was  not  a  strong  one,  and 
soon  he  was  skimming  ten  or  even  a  less 
number  of  feet  from  the  ground.  Now 
came  the  sport  of  it  all;  the  hounds  were 
bunched  and  running  like  a  pack  behind 
him.  Suddenly  old  '  Grimbeard/  in  the 
heart  of  the  pack,  thought  it  was  time  for 
the  supreme  effort;  with  a  rush  he  went 
to  the  front,  and  as  a  mighty  spring  carried 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  169 

him  up  in  the  air,  he  snapped  his  clean, 
cruel  fangs  under  the  brave  old  gobbler, 
who  by  a  great  effort  rose  just  out  of  reach. 
One  after  another  in  the  next  twenty-five 
yards  each  hound  made  his  trial  and  failed. 
At  last  the  old  hound  again  made  his  rush, 
sprang  up  a  wonderful  height  into  the  air, 
and  cut  the  bird  down  as  with  a  knife. 

"  The  first  flight  of  a  turkey  when  being 
coursed  is  rarely  more  than  a  mile,  and  the 
second  about  half  as  long.  After  that,  if  it 
gets  up  at  all  again,  it  is  for  very  short 
flights  so  near  the  ground  that  it  is  soon  cut 
down  by  any  hound.  The  astonishing 
springs  a  greyhound  who  is  an  old  hand  at 
turkey  coursing  will  make  are  a  constant 
source  of  surprise  and  wonder  to  those  fond 
of  the  sport.  A  turkey,  after  coming 
down  from  his  first  flight,  will  really  per- 
form the  feat  which  fable  attributes  to  the 
ostrich;  that  is,  will  run  its  head  into  a 
clump  of  bushes  and  stand  motionless  as  if, 
since  it  cannot  see  its  foes,  it  were  itself 
equally  invisible.  During  the  day  turkeys 


1 70  HUNTING  TRIPS 

are  scattered  all  over  the  plains,  and  it  is 
no  unusual  thing  to  get  in  one  afternoon's 
ride  eight  or  ten  of  them." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  DEER  OF  THE  RIVER 
BOTTOMS 

OF  all  the  large  game  of  the  United 
States,  the  white-tail  deer  is  the  best 
known  and  the  most  widely  distributed. 
Taking  the  Union  as  a  whole,  fully  ten  men 
will  be  found  who  have  killed  white-tail 
for  one  who  has  killed  any  other  kind  of 
large  game.  And  it  is  the  only  ruminant 
animal  which  is  able  to  live  on  in  the  land 
even  when  it  has  been  pretty  thickly  settled. 
There  is  hardly  a  State  wherein  it  does 
not  still  exist,  at  least  in  some  out-of-the- 
way  corner ;  and  long  after  the  elk  and  the 
buffalo  have  passed  away,  and  when  the 
big-horn  and  prong-horn  have  become  rare 
indeed,  the  white-tail  deer  will  still  be  com- 
mon in  certain  parts  of  the  country. 

171 


1 72  HUNTING  TRIPS 

When,  less  than  five  years  ago,  cattle 
were  first  driven  on  to  the  northern  plains, 
the  white-tail  were  the  least  plentiful  and 
the  least  sought  after  of  all  the  large  game  ; 
but  they  have  held  their  own  as  none  of 
the  others  have  begun  to  do,  and  are  al- 
ready in  certain  localities  more  common 
than  any  other  kind,  and  indeed  in  many 
places  are  more  common  than  all  other 
kinds  put  together.  The  ranchmen  along 
the  Powder  River,  for  instance,  now  have 
to  content  themselves  with  white-tail  veni- 
son unless  they  make  long  trips  back  among 
the  hills.  The  same  is  rapidly  getting  to  be 
true  of  the  Little  Missouri.  This  is  partly 
because  the  skin  and  meat  hunters  find  the 
chase  of  this  deer  to  be  the  most  tedious 
and  least  remunerative  species  of  hunting, 
and  therefore  only  turn  their  attention  to  it 
when  there  is  nothing  else  left  to  hunt,  and 
partly  because  the  sheep  and  cattle  and  the 
herdsmen  who  follow  them  are  less  likely 
to  trespass  on  their  grounds  than  on  the 
grounds  of  other  game.  The  white-tail  is  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  173 

deer  of  the  river  bottoms  and  of  the  large 
creeks,  whose  beds  contain  plenty  of  brush 
and  timber  running  down  into  them.  It 
prefers  the  densest  cover,  in  which  it  lies 
hid  all  day,  and  it  is  especially  fond  of 
wet,  swampy  places,  where  a  horse  runs 
the  risk  of  being  engulfed.  Thus  it  is  very 
rarely  jumped  by  accident,  and  when  the 
cattle  stray  into  its  haunts,  which  is  but 
seldom,  the  cowboys  are  not  apt  to  follow 
them.  Besides,  unlike  most  other  game,  it 
has  no  aversion  to  the  presence  of  cattle, 
and  in  the  morning  and  evening  will  come 
out  and  feed  freely  among  them. 

This   last   habit   was   the   cause   of   our 
getting   a   fine   buck   a    few    days   before 
last  Christmas.    The  weather  was  bitterly 
cold,  the  spirit  in    the    thermometer  some- 
times  going   down   at   night  to  50°  below 
zero   and    never    for   over  a  fortnight  get- 
above — 10°  (Fahrenheit).     Snow  cov- 
the  ground,  to  the  depth,  however, 
of  but  a  few  inches,  for  in  the  cattle  country 
the  snowfall  is  always  light.     When  the 


i74  HUNTING  TRIPS 

cold  is  so  great  it  is  far  from  pleasant  to  be 
out-of-doors.  Still  a  certain  amount  of 
riding  about  among  the  cattle  and  ponies 
had  to  be  done,  and  almost  every  day  was 
spent  by  at  least  one  of  us  in  the  saddle. 
We  wore  the  heaviest  kind  of  all-wool  un- 
der-clothing, with  flannels,  lined  boots,  and 
great  fur  coats,  caps,  and  gauntlets  or  mit- 
tens, but  yet  after  each  ride  one  or  the 
other  of  us  would  be  almost  sure  to  come  in 
with  a  touch  of  the  frost  somewhere  about 
him.  On  one  ride  I  froze  my  nose  and  one 
cheek,  and  each  of  the  men  froze  his  ears, 
fingers,  or  toes  at  least  once  during  the 
fortnight.  This  generally  happened  while 
riding  over  a  plain  or  plateau  with  a  strong 
wind  blowing  in  our  faces.  When  the  wind 
was  on  our  backs  it  was  not  bad  fun  to 
gallop  along  through  the  white  weather, 
but  when  we  had  to  face  it,  it  cut  through 
us  like  a  keen  knife.  The  ponies  did  not 
seem  to  mind  the  cold  much,  but  the  cattle 
were  very  uncomfortable,  standing  humped 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  175 

up  in  the  bushes  except  for  an  hour  or 
two  at  mid-day  when  they  ventured  out  to 
feed;  some  of  the  young  stock  which  were 
wintering  on  the  range  for  the  first  time 
died  from  the  exposure.  A  very  weak 
animal  we  would  bring  into  the  cow-shed 
and  feed  with  hay;  but  this  was  only  done 
in  cases  of  the  direst  necessity,  as  such  an 
animal  has  then  to  be  fed  for  the  rest  of 
the  winter,  and  the  quantity  of  hay  is 
limited.  In  the  Bad  Lands  proper,  cattle  do 
not  wander  far,  the  deep  ravines  affording 
them  a  refuge  from  the  bitter  icy  blasts  of 
the  winter  gales;  but  if  by  any  accident 
caught  out  on  the  open  prairie  in  a  blizzard, 
a  herd  will  drift  before  it  for  maybe  more 
than  a  hundred  miles,  until  it  finds  a  shelter 
capable  of  holding  it.  For  this  reason  it  is 
best  to  keep  more  or  less  of  a  look-out  over 
all  the  bunches  of  beasts,  riding  about 
among  them  every  few  days,  and  turning 
back  any  herd  that  begins  to  straggle  to- 
rd  the  open  plains;  though  in  winter, 


176  HUNTING  TRIPS 

when  weak  and  emaciated,  the  cattle  must 
be  disturbed  and  driven  as  little  as  possible, 
or  the  loss  among  them  will  be  fearful. 

One  afternoon,  while  most  of  us  were 
away  from  the  ranch-house,  one  of  the 
cowboys,  riding  in  from  his  day's  outing 
over  the  range,  brought  word  that  he  had 
seen  two  white-tail  deer,  a  buck  and  a  doe, 
feeding  with  some  cattle  on  the  side  of  a 
hill  across  the  river,  and  not  much  more 
than  half  a  mile  from  the  house.  There 
was  about  an  hour  of  daylight  left,  and  one 
of  the  foremen,  a  tall,  fine-looking  fellow 
named  Ferris,  the  best  rider  on  the  ranch 
but  not  an  unusually  good  shot,  started  out 
at  once  after  the  deer;  for  in  the  late  fall 
and  early  winter  we  generally  kill  a  good 
deal  of  game,  as  it  then  keeps  well  and 
serves  as  a  food  supply  throughout  the  cold 
months ;  after  January  we  hunt  as  little  as 
possible.  Ferris  found  the  deer  easily- 
enough,  but  they  started  before  he  could 
get  a  standing  shot  at  them,  and  when  he 
fired  as  they  ran,  he  only  broke  one  of  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  177 

buck's  hind  legs,  just  above  the  ankle.  He 
followed  it  in  the  snow  for  several  miles, 
across  the  river,  and  down  near  the  house 
to  the  end  of  the  bottom,  and  then  back 
toward  the  house.  The  buck  was  a  cunning 
old  beast,  keeping  in  the  densest  cover,  and 
often  doubling  back  on  his  trail  and  sneak- 
ing off  to  one  side  as  his  pursuer  passed  by. 
Finally  it  grew  too  dark  to  see  the  tracks 
any  longer,  and  Ferris  came  home. 

Next  morning  early  we  went  out  to 
where  he  had  left  the  trail,  feeling  very  sure 
from  his  description  of  the  place  (which 
was  less  than  a  mile  from  the  house)  that 
we  would  get  the  buck;  for  when  he  had 
abandoned  the  pursuit  the  deer  was  in  a 
copse  of  bushes  and  young  trees  some  hun- 
dreds of  yards  across,  and  in  this  it  had 
doubtless  spent  the  night,  for  it  was  <. 
tremely  unlikely  tfiat,  wounded  and  tired  as 
it  was,  it  would  go  any  distance  after  find- 
ing that  it  was  no  longer  pursued. 

When  we  got  to  the  thicket  we  first  made 
a  circuit   round  it  to  see  if  the  wounded 


I78  HUNTING  TRIPS 

animal  had  broken  cover,  but  though  there 
were  fresh  deer  tracks  leading  both  in  and 
out  of  it,  none  of  them  were  made  by  a  crip- 
ple; so  we  knew  he  was  still  within.  It 
would  seem  to  be  a  very  easy  task  to  track 
up  and  kill  a  broken-legged  buck  in  light 
snow ;  but  we  had  to  go  very  cautiously, 
for  though  with  only  three  legs  he  could 
still  run  a  good  deal  faster  than  either  of  us 
on  two,  and  we  were  anxious  not  to  alarm 
him  and  give  him  a  good  start.  Then  there 
were  several  well-beaten  cattle  trails 
through  the  thicket,  and  in  addition  to  that 
one  or  two  other  deer  had  been  walking  to 
and  fro  within  it ;  so  that  it  was  hard  work 
to  follow  the  tracks.  After  working  some 
little  time  we  hit  on  the  right  trail,  finding 
where  the  buck  had  turned  into  the  thickest 
growth.  While  Ferris  followed  carefully 
in  on  the  tracks,  I  stationed  myself  farther 
on  toward  the  outside,  knowing  that  the 
buck  would  in  all  likelihood  start  up  wind. 
In  a  minute  or  two  Ferris  came  on  the  bed 
where  he  had  passed  the  night,  and  which 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  179 

lie  had  evidently  just  left;  a  shout  informed 
me  that  the  game  was  on  foot,  and  imme- 
diately afterward  the  crackling  and  snap- 
ping of  the  branches  were  heard  as  the  deer 
rushed  through  them.  I  ran  as  rapidly  and 
quietly  as  possible  toward  the  place  where  the 
sounds  seemed  to  indicate  that  he  would 
break  cover,  stopping  under  a  small  tree.  A 
minute  afterward  he  appeared,  some  thirty 
yards  off  on  the  edge  of  the  thicket,  and 
halted  for  a  second  to  look  round  before 
going  into  the  open.  Only  his  head  and 
antlers  were  visible  above  the  bushes  which 
hid  from  view  the  rest  of  his  body.  He 
turned  his  head  sharply  toward  me  as  I 
raised  the  rifle,  and  the  bullet  went  fairly 
into  his  throat,  just  under  the  jaw,  breaking 
his  neck,  and  bringing  him  down  in  his 
tracks  with  hardly  a  kick.  He  was  a  fine 
buck  of  eight  points,  unusually  fat,  consid- 
ering that  the  rutting  season  was  just  over. 
We  dressed  it  at  once,  and,  as  the  house 
was  so  near,  determined  we  would  drag  it 
there  over  the  snow  ourselves,  without  go- 


i8o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ing  back  for  a  horse.  Each  took  an  antler, 
and  the  body  slipped  along  very  easily; 
but  so  intense  was  the  cold  that  we  had  to 
keep  shifting  sides  all  the  time,  the  hand 
which  grasped  the  horn  becoming  numb 
almost  immediately. 

White-tail  are  very  canny,  and  know  per- 
fectly well  what  threatens  danger  and  what 
does  not.  Their  larger,  and  to  my  mind 
nobler,  relation,  the  black-tail,  is  if  any 
thing  easier  to  approach  and  kill,  and  yet 
is  by  no  means  so  apt  to  stay  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  a  ranch,  where  there 
is  always  more  or  less  noise  and  confusion. 
The  bottom  on  which  my  ranch-house 
stands  is  a  couple  of  miles  in  length,  and 
well  wooded;  all  through  last  summer  it 
was  the  home  of  a  number  of  white-tails, 
and  most  of  them  are  on  it  to  this  moment. 
Two  fawns  in  especial  were  really  amusing- 
ly tame,  at  one  time  spending  their  days  hid 
in  an  almost  impenetrable  tangle  of  bull- 
berry  bushes,  whose  hither  edge  was  barely 
a  hundred  yards  from  the  ranch-house ;  and 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  181 

in  the  evening  they  could  frequently  be  seen 
from  the  door,  as  they  came  out  to  feed.  In 
walking  out  after  sunset,  or  in  riding  home 
when  night  had  fallen,  we  would  often  run 
across  them  when  it  was  too  dark  to  make 
out  any  thing  but  their  flaunting  white  tails 
as  they  cantered  out  of  the  way.  Yet  for 
all  their  seeming  familiarity  they  took  good 
care  not  to  expose  themselves  to  danger. 
We  were  reluctant  to  molest  them,  but  one 
day,  having  performed  our  usual  weekly  or 
fortnightly  feat  of  eating  up  about  every 
thing  there  was  in  the  house,  it  was  deter- 
mined that  the  two  deer  (for  it  was  late  in 
autumn  and  they  were  then  well  grown) 
should  be  sacrificed.  Accordingly  one  of 
us  sallied  out,  but  found  that  the  sacrifice 
was  not  to  be  consummated  so  easily,  for 
the  should-be  victims  appeared  to  distin- 
guish perfectly  well  between  a  mere  passer- 
by, whom  they  regarded  with  absolute  in- 
difference, and  any  one  who  harbored  sin- 
ister designs.  They  kept  such  a  sharp 
look-uui,  and  made  off  so  rapidly  if  any 


1 82  HUNTING  TRIPS 

one  tried  to  approach  them,  that  on  two 
evenings  the  appointed  hunter  returned 
empty-handed,  and  by  the  third  some  one  else 
had  brought  in  a  couple  of  black-tail.  After 
that  no  necessity  arose  for  molesting  the 
two  "  tame  deer,"  for  whose  sound  com- 
mon-sense we  had  all  acquired  a  greatly 
increased  respect. 

When  not  much  molested  white-tail  feed 
in  the  evening  or  late  afternoon;  but  if 
often  shot  at  and  chased  they  only  come  out 
at  night.  They  are  very  partial  to  the 
water,  and  in  the  warm  summer  nights  will 
come  down  into  the  prairie  ponds  and  stand 
knee-deep  in  them,  eating  the  succulent 
marsh  plants.  Most  of  the  plains  rivers 
flow  through  sandy  or  muddy  beds  with  no 
vegetable  growth,  and  to  these,  of  course, 
the  deer  merely  come  down  to  drink  or  re- 
fresh themselves  by  bathing,  as  they  con- 
tain nothing  to  eat. 

Throughout  the  day  the  white-tails  keep 
in  the  densest  thickets,  choosing  if  possible 
those  of  considerable  extent.  For  this  rea- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  183 

son  they  are  confined  to  the  bottoms  of  the 
rivers  and  the  mouths  of  the  largest  creeks, 
the  cover  elsewhere  being  too  scanty  to  suit 
them.  It  is  very  difficult  to  make  them 
leave  one  of  their  haunts  during  the  day- 
time. They  lie  very  close,  permitting  a  man 
to  pass  right  by  them;  and  the  twigs  and 
branches  surrounding  them  are  so  thick  and 
interlaced  that  they  can  hear  the  approach 
of  any  one  from  a  long  distance  off,  and 
hence  are  rarely  surprised.  If  they  think 
there  is  danger  that  the  intruder  will  dis- 
cover them,  they  arise  and  skulk  silently  off 
through  the  thickest  part  of  the  brush.  If 
followed,  they  keep  well  ahead,  moving  per- 
fectly noiselessly  through  the  thicket,  often 
going  round  in  a  circle  and  not  breaking 
cover  until  hard  pressed;  yet  all  the  time 
stepping  with  such  sharp-eyed  caution  that 
the  pursuing  hunter  will  never  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  quarry,  though  the  patch  of 
brush  may  not  be  fifty  rods  across. 

At  times  the  white-tail  will  lie  so  close 
that   it   may  almost  be  trodden  on.    One 


1 84  HUNTING  TRIPS 

June  morning  I  was  riding  down  along  the 
river,  and  came  to  a  long  bottom,  crowded 
with  rose-bushes,  all  in  bloom.  It  was 
crossed  in  every  direction  by  cattle  paths, 
and  a  drove  of  long-horned  Texans  were 
scattered  over  it.  A  cow-pony  gets  accus- 
tomed to  travelling  at  speed  along  the  cat- 
tle trails,  and  the  one  I  bestrode  threaded 
its  way  among  the  twisted  narrow  paths 
with  perfect  ease,  loping  rapidly  onward 
through  a  sea  of  low  rose-bushes,  covered 
with  the  sweet,  pink  flowers.  They  gave 
a  bright  color  to  the  whole  plain,  while  the 
air  was  filled  with  the  rich,  full  songs  of  the 
yellow-breasted  meadow  larks,  as  they 
perched  on  the  topmost  sprays  of  the  little 
trees.  Suddenly  a  white-tail  doe  sprang  up 
almost  from  under  the  horse's  feet,  and 
scudded  off  with  her  white  flag  flaunting. 
There  was  no  reason  for  harming  her,  and 
she  made  a  pretty  picture  as  she  bounded 
lightly  off  among  the  rose-red  flowers,  pass- 
ing without  heed  through  the  ranks  of  the 
long-horned  and  savage-looking  steers. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  185 

Doubtless  she  had  a  little  spotted  fawn 
not  far  away.  These  wee  fellows  soon  after 
birth  grow  very  cunning  and  able  to  take 
mselves,  keeping  in  the  densest 
part  of  the  brush,  through  which  they  run 
and  dodge  like  a  rabbit.  If  taken  young 
they  grow  very  tame  and  are  most  dainty 
pets.  One  which  we  had  round  the  house 
answered  well  to  its  name.  It  was  at  first 
fed  with  milk,  which  it  lapped  eagerly  from 
a  saucer,  sharing  the  meal  with  the  two 
cats,  who  rather  resented  its  presence  and 
cuffed  it  heartily  when  they  thought  it  was 
greedy  and  was  taking  more  than  its  share. 
As  it  grew  older  it  would  eat  bread  or  po- 
tatoes from  our  hands,  and  was  perfectly 
fearless.  At  night  it  was  let  go  or  put  in 
the  cow-shed,  whichever  was  handiest,  but 
it  was  generally  round  in  time  for  breakfast 
next  morning.  A  blue  ribbon  with  a  bell 
attached  was  hung  round  its  neck,  so  as  to 
prevent  its  being  shot;  but  in  the  end  it 
shared  the  fate  of  all  pets,  for  one  night  it 
went  off  and  never  came  back  again.  Per- 


1 86  HUNTING  TRIPS 

haps  it  strayed  away  of  its  own  accord,  but 
more  probably  some  raw  hand  at  hunting 
saw  it,  and  slaughtered  it  without  noticing 
the  bell  hanging  from  its  neck. 

The  best  way  to  kill  white-tail  is  to  still- 
hunt  carefully  through  their  haunts  at  dusk, 
when  the  deer  leave  the  deep  recesses  in 
which  their  day-beds  lie,  and  come  out  to 
feed  in  the  more  open  parts.  For  this  kind 
of  hunting,  no  dress  is  so  good  as  a  buck- 
skin suit  and  moccasins.  The  moccasins 
enable  one  to  tread  softly  and  noiselessly, 
while  the  buckskin  suit  is  of  a  most  incon- 
spicuous color,  and  makes  less  rustling  than 
any  other  material  when  passing  among 
projecting  twigs.  Care  must  be  taken  to 
always  hunt  up  wind,  and  to  advance  with- 
out any  sudden  motions,  walking  close  in  to 
the  edge  of  the  thickets,  and  keeping  a  sharp 
look-out,  as  it  is  of  the  first  importance  to 
see  the  game  before  the  game  sees  you.  The 
feeding-grounds  of  the  deer  may  vary.  If 
they  are  on  a  bottom  studded  with  dense 
copses,  they  move  out  on  the  open  between 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  187 

them:  if  they  are  in  a  dense  wood,  they 
feed  along  its  edges;  but,  by  preference, 
they  keep  in  the  little  glades  and  among  the 
bushes  underneath  the  trees.  Wherever 
they  may  be  found,  they  are  rarely  far  from 
thick  cover,  and  are  always  on  the  alert, 
lifting  up  their  heads  every  few  bites  they 
take  to  see  if  any  danger  threatens  them. 
But,  unlike  the  antelope,  they  seem  to  rely 
for  safety  even  more  upon  escaping  obser- 
vation than  upon  discovering  danger  while 
it  is  still  far  off,  and  so  are  usually  in  shel- 
tered places  where  they  cannot  be  seen  at 
any  distance.  Hence,  shots  at  them  arc 
generally  obtained,  if  obtained  at  all,  at 
very  much  closer  range  than  at  any  other 
kind  of  game;  the  average  distance  would 
be  nearer  fifty  than  a  hundred  yards.  On 
the  other  hand,  more  of  the  shots  obtained 
are  running  ones  than  is  the  case  with  the 
same  number  taken  at  antelope  or  black- 
tail. 

If  the  deer  is   standing  just  out  of  .1 
fair-sized  wood,  it  can  often  be  obtained 


1 88  HUNTING  TRIPS 

by  creeping  up  along  the  edge;  if  seen 
among  the  large  trees,  it  is  even  more  easily 
still-hunted,  as  a  tree  trunk  can  be  readily 
kept  in  line  with  the  quarry,  and  thus  pre- 
vent its  suspecting  any  approach.  But  only 
a  few  white-tail  are  killed  by  regular  and 
careful  stalking;  in  much  the  greater  num- 
ber of  instances  the  hunter  simply  beats  pa- 
tiently and  noiselessly  from  the  leeward, 
carefully  through  the  clumps  of  trees  and 
bushes,  always  prepared  to  see  his  game, 
and  with  his  rifle  at  the  ready.  Sooner  or 
later,  as  he  steals  round  a  corner,  he  either 
sees  the  motionless  form  of  a  deer,  not  a 
great  distance  off,  regarding  him  intently 
for  a  moment  before  taking  flight;  or  else 
he  hears  a  sudden  crash,  and  catches  a 
glimpse  of  the  animal  as  it  lopes  into  the 
bushes.  In  either  case,  he  must  shoot 
quick ;  but  the  shot  is  a  close  one. 

If  he  is  heard  or  seen  a  long  way  off,  the 
deer  is  very  apt,  instead  of  running  away  at 
full  speed,  to  skulk  off  quietly  through  the 
bushes.  But  when  suddenly  startled,  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  189 

white-tail  makes  off  at  a  great  rate,  at  a 
rolling  gallop,  the   long,  broad  tail,   pure 

e,  held  up  in  the  air.  In  the  dark  or  in 
thick  woods,  often  all  that  can  be  seen  is 
the  flash  of  white  from  the  tail.  The  head 
is  carried  low  and  well  forward  in  running; 
a  buck,  when  passing  swiftly  through  thick 
underbrush,  usually  throws  his  horns  back 
almost  on  his  shoulders,  with  his  nose  held 
straight  in  front.  White-tail  venison  is,  in 
season,  most  delicious  eating,  only  inferior 
to  the  mutton  of  the  mountain  sheep. 

Among  the  places  which  are  most  cer- 
tain to  contain  white-tails  may  be  mentioned 
the  tracts  of  swampy  ground  covered  with 
willows  and  the  like,  which  are  to  be  found 
in  a  few  (and  but  a  few)  localities  through 
the  plains  country ;  there  are,  for  example, 
several  such  along  the  Powder  River,  just 
below  where  the  Little  Powder  empties  into 

Here  there  is  a  dense  growth  of  slim- 
stemmed  young  trees,  sometimes  almost  im- 
penetrable, and  in  other  places  opening  out 
into  what  seem  like  arched  passage-ways, 


i9o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

through  which  a  man  must  at  times  go  al- 
most on  all  fours.  The  ground  may  be 
covered  with  rank  shrubbery,  or  it  may  be 
bare  mud  with  patches  of  tall  reeds.  Here 
and  there,  scattered  through  these  swamps, 
are  pools  of  water,  and  sluggish  ditches  oc- 
casionally cut  their  way  deep  below  the 
surface  of  the  muddy  soil.  Game  trails 
are  abundant  all  through  them,  and  now 
and  then  there  is  a  large  path  beaten  out  by 
the  cattle;  while  at  intervals  there  are 
glades  and  openings.  A  horse  must  be 
very  careful  in  going  through  such  a 
swamp  or  he  will  certainly  get  mired,  and 
even  a  man  must  be  cautious  about  his 
footing.  In  the  morning  or  late  afternoon 
a  man  stands  a  good  chance  of  killing  deer 
in  such  a  place,  if  he  hunts  carefully 
through  it.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to 
make  but  little  noise  in  the  mud  and  among 
the  wet,  yielding  swamp  plants;  and  by 
moving  cautiously  along  the  trails  and 
through  the  openings,  one  can  see  some  lit- 
tle distance  ahead ;  and  toward  evening  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


191 


pools  should  be  visited,  and  the  borders  as 
far  back  as  possible  carefully  examined,  for 
any  deer  that  come  to  drink,  and  the  glades 
should  be  searched  through  for  any  that 
may  be  feeding.  In  the  soft  mud,  too,  a 
fresh  track  can  be  followed  as  readily  as  if 
in  snow,  and  without  exposing  the  hunter 
to  such  probability  of  detection.  If  a  shot 
is  obtained  at  all,  it  is  at  such  close  quarters 
as  to  more  than  counterbalance  the  dimness 
of  the  light,  and  to  render  the  chance  of  a 
miss  very  unlikely.  Such  hunting  is  for  a 
change  very  pleasant,  the  perfect  stillness 
of  the  place,  the  quiet  with  which  one  has 
to  move,  and  the  constant  expectation  of 
seeing  game  keeping  one's  nerves  always  on 
the  stretch ;  but  after  a  while  it  grows  tedi- 
ous, and  it  makes  a  man  feel  cramped  to  be 
always  ducking  and  crawling  through  such 
places.  It  is  not  to  be  compared,  in  cool 
weather,  with  still-hunting  on  the  open 
hills ;  nevertheless,  in  the  furious  heat  of  the 
summer  sun  it  has  its  advantages,  for  it  is 
not  often  so  oppressingly  hot  in  the  swamp 


192  HUNTING  TRIPS 

as  it  is  on  the  open  prairie  or  in  the  dry 
thickets. 

The  white-tail  is  the  only  kind  of  large 
game  for  which  the  shot-gun  can  occasion- 
ally be  used.  At  times  in  the  dense  brush  it 
is  seen,  if  seen  at  all,  at  such  short  dis- 
tances, and  the  shots  have  to  be  taken  so 
hurriedly,  that  the  shot-gun  is  really  the 
best  weapon  wherewith  to  attempt  its  death. 
One  method  of  taking  it  is  to  have  trained 
dogs  hunt  through  a  valley  and  drive  the 
deer  to  guns  stationed  at  the  opposite  end. 
With  a  single  slow  hound,  given  to  bay- 
ing, a  hunter  can  often  follow  the  deer  on 
foot  in  the  method  adapted  in  most  of  the 
Eastern  States  for  the  capture  of  both  the 
gray  and  the  red  fox.  If  the  dog  is  slow 
and  noisy  the  deer  will  play  round  in  circles 
and  can  be  cut  off  and  shot  from  a  stand. 
Any  dog  will  soon  put  a  deer  out  of  a 
thicket,  or  drive  it  down  a  valley ;  but  with- 
out a  dog  it  is  often  difficult  to  drive  deer 
toward  the  runaway  or  place  at  which  the 
guns  are  stationed,  for  the  white-tail  will 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  193 

often  skulk  round  and  round  a  thicket  in- 
stead of  putting  out  of  it  when  a  man  en- 
ters; and  even  when  started  it  may  break 
back  past  the  driver  instead  of  going  to- 
ward the  guns. 

In  all  these  habits  white-tail  are  the  very 
reverse  of  such  game  as  antelope.  Ante- 
lope care  nothing  at  all  about  being  seen, 
and  indeed  rather  court  observation,  while 
the  chief  anxiety  of  a  white-tail  is  to  go  un- 
observed. In  passing  through  a  country 
where  there  are  antelope,  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible not  to  see  them;  while  where  there 
are  an  equal  number  of  white-tail,  the  odds 
are  manifold  against  travellers  catching  a 
glimpse  of  a  single  individual.  The  prong- 
horn  is  perfectly  indifferent  as  to  whether 
the  pursuer  sees  him,  so  long  as  in  his  turn 
he  is  able  to  see  the  pursuer ;  and  he  relies 
entirely  upon  his  speed  and  wariness  for  his 
safety;  he  never  trusts  for  a  moment  to 
eluding  observation.  White-tail  on  the  con- 
trary  rely  almost  exclusively  either  upon 
lying  perfectly  still  and  letting  the  danger 


i94  HUNTING  TRIPS 

pass  by,  or  else  upon  skulking  off  so  slyly 
as  to  be  unobserved;  it  is  only  when  hard 
pressed  or  suddenly  startled  that  they 
bound  boldly  and  freely  away. 

In  many  of  the  dense  jungles  without  any 
opening  the  brush  is  higher  than  a  man's 
head,  and  one  has  then  practically  no  chance 
at  all  of  getting  a  shot  on  foot  when  cross- 
ing through  such  places.  But  I  have  known 
instances  where  a  man  had  himself  driven 
in  a  tall  light  wagon  through  a  place  like 
this,  and  got  several  snap  shots  at  the  deer, 
as  he  caught  momentary  glimpses  of  them 
stealing  off  through  the  underbrush;  and 
another  method  of  pursuit  in  these  jungles 
is  occasionally  followed  by  one  of  my  fore- 
men, who,  mounted  on  a  quiet  horse,  which 
will  stand  fire,  pushes  through  the  bushes 
and  now  and  then  gets  a  quick  shot  at  a 
deer  from  horseback.  I  have  tried  this 
method  myself,  but  without  success,  for 
though  my  hunting-horse,  old  Manitou, 
stands  as  steady  as  a  rock,  yet  I  find  it  im- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  195 

possible  to  shoot  the  rifle  with  any  degree 
of  accuracy  from  the  saddle. 

Except  on  such  occasions  as  those  just 
mentioned,  the  white-tail  is  rarely  killed 
while  hunting  on  horseback.  This  last 
term,  by-the-way,  must  not  be  understood 
in  the  sense  in  which  it  would  be  taken  by 
the  fox-hunter  of  the  South,  or  by  the  Cali- 
fornian  and  Texan  horsemen  who  course 
hare,  antelope,  and  wild  turkey  with  their 
fleet  greyhounds.  With  us  hunting  on 
horseback  simply  means  that  the  horse  is 
ridden  not  only  to  the  hunting  grounds,  but 
also  through  them,  until  the  game  is  dis- 
covered; then  the  hunter  immediately  dis- 
mounts, shooting  at  once  if  the  animal  is 
near  enough  and  has  seen  him,  or  stalking 
up  to  it  on  foot  if  it  is  a  great  distance  off 
and  he  is  still  unobserved.  Where  great 
stretches  of  country  have  to  be  covered,  as 
in  antelope  shooting,  hunting  on  horseback 
is  almost  the  only  way  followed;  but  the 
haunts  and  habits  of  the  white-tail  deer 


196  HUNTING  TRIPS 

render  it  nearly  useless  to  try  to  kill  them 
in  this  way,  as  the  horse  would  be  sure  to 
alarm  them  6y  making  a  noise,  and  even  if 
he  did  not  there  would  hardly  be  time  to 
dismount  and  take  a  snap  shot.  Only  once 
have  I  ever  killed  a  white-tail  buck  while 
hunting  on  horseback;  and  at  that  time  I 
had  been  expecting  to  fall  in  with  black- 
tail. 

This  was  while  we  had  been  making  a 
wagon  trip  to  the  westward  following  the 
old  Keogh  trail,  which  was  made  by  the 
heavy  army  wagons  that  journeyed  to  Fort 
Keogh  in  the  old  days  when  the  soldiers 
were,  except  a  few  daring  trappers,  the  only 
white  men  to  be  seen  on  the  last  great  hunt- 
ing-ground of  the  Indians.  It  was  aban- 
doned as  a  military  route  several  years  ago, 
and  is  now  only  rarely  travelled  over,  either 
by  the  canvas-topped  ranch-wagon  of  some 
wandering  cattle-men — like  ourselves, — or 
else  by  a  small  party  of  emigrants,  in  two 
or  three  prairie  schooners,  which  contain  all 
their  household  goods.  Nevertheless,  it  is 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  197 

still  as  plain  and  distinct  as  ever.  The  two 
deep  parallel  ruts,  cut  into  the  sod  by  the 
wheels  of  the  heavy  wagon,  stretch  for 
scores  of  miles  in  a  straight  line  across  the 
level  prairie,  and  take  great  turns  and 
doublings  to  avoid  the  impassable  portions 
of  the  Bad  Lands.  The  track  is  always 
perfectly  plain,  for  in  the  dry  climate  of  the 
western  plains  the  action  of  the  weather 
tends  to  preserve  rather  than  to  obliterate 
here  it  leads  downhill,  the  snow  water 
has  cut  and  widened  the  ruts  into  deep  gul- 
lies, so  that  a  wagon  has  at  those  places  to 
travel  alongside  the  road.  From  any  little 
rising  in  the  prairie  the  road  can  be  seen,  a 
long  way  off,  as  a  dark  line,  which,  when 
near,  resolves  itself  into  two  sharply  defined 
parallel  cuts.  Such  a  road  is  a  great  con- 
venience as  a  landmark.  When  travelling 
along  it,  or  one  like  it,  the  hunters  can  sep- 
arate in  all  directions,  and  no  matter  how 
long  or  how  far  they  hunt,  there  is  never 
the  least  difficulty  about  finding  camp.  For 
the  general  direction  in  which  the  road  lies, 


198  HUNTING  TRIPS 

is,  of  course,  kept  in  mind,  and  it  can  be 
reached  whether  the  sun  is  down  or  not; 
then  a  glance  tells  if  the  wagon  has  passed, 
and  all  that  remains  to  be  done  is  to  gallop 
along  the  trail  until  camp  is  found. 

On  the  trip  in  question  we  had  at  first 
very  bad  weather.  Leaving  the  ranch  in 
the  morning,  two  of  us,  who  were  mounted, 
pushed  on  ahead  to  hunt,  the  wagon  follow- 
ing slowly,  with  a  couple  of  spare  saddle 
ponies  leading  behind  it.  Early  in  the  af- 
ternoon, while  riding  over  the  crest  of  a 
great  divide,  which  separates  the  drainage 
basins  of  two  important  creeks,  we  saw  that 
a  tremendous  storm  was  brewing  with  that 
marvellous  rapidity  which  is  so  marked  a 
characteristic  of  weather  changes  on  the 
plains.  A  towering  mass  of  clouds  gath- 
ered in  the  northwest,  turning  that  whole 
quarter  of  the  sky  to  an  inky  blackness. 
From  there  the  storm  rolled  down  toward 
us  at  a  furious  speed,  obscuring  by  degrees 
the  light  of  the  sun,  and  extending  its 
wings  toward  each  side,  as  if  to  overlap  any 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  199 

that  tried  to  avoid  its  path.  Against  the 
dark  background  of  the  mass  could  be  seen 
pillars  and  clouds  of  gray  mist,  whirled 
hither  and  thither  by  the  wind,  and  sheets 
of  level  rain  driven  before  it.  The  edges 
of  the  wings  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  the 
wind  shrieked  and  moaned  as  it  swept  over 
the  prairie.  It  was  a  storm  of  unusual  in- 
tensity; the  prairie  fowl  rose  in  flocks 
from  before  it,  scudding  with  spread  wings 
toward  the  thickest  cover,  and  the  herds  of 
antelope  ran  across  the  plain  like  race- 
horses to  gather  in  the  hollows  and  behind 
the  low  ridges. 

We  spurred  hard  to  get  out  of  the  open, 
riding  with  loose  reins  for  the  creek.  The 
centre  of  the  storm  swept  by  behind  us, 
fairly  across  our  track,  and  we  only  got  a 
wipe  from  the  tail  of  it.  Yet  this  itself  we 
could  not  have  faced  in  the  open.  The  first 
gust  caught  us  a  few  hundred  yards  from 
the  creek,  almost  taking  us  frorp  the  sad- 
dK .  and  driving  the  rain  and  hail  in  sting- 
level  sheets  against  us.  We  galloped 


200  HUNTING  TRIPS 

to  the  edge  of  a  deep  wash-out,  scrambled 
into  it  at  the  risk  of  our  necks,  and  huddled 
up  with  our  horses  underneath  the  wind- 
ward bank.  Here  we  remained  pretty  \\vll 
sheltered  until  the  storm  was  over.  Although 
it  was  August,  the  air  became  very  cold. 
The  wagon  was  fairly  caught,  and  would 
have  been  blown  over  if  the  top  had  been 
on;  the  driver  and  horses  escaped  without 
injury,  pressing  under  the  leeward  side,  the 
storm  coming  so  level  that  they  did  not  need 
a  roof  to  protect  them  from  the  hail.  Where 
the  centre  of  the  whirlwind  struck  it  did 
great  damage,  sheets  of  hailstones  as  large 
as  pigeons'  eggs  striking  the  earth  with  the 
velocity  of  bullets;  next  day  the  hailstones 
could  have  been  gathered  up  by  the  bushel 
from  the  heaps  that  lay  in  the  bottom  of  the 
gullies  and  ravines.  One  of  my  cowboys 
was  out  in  the  storm,  during  whose  continu- 
ance he  crouched  under  his  horse's  belly ; 
coming  home  he  came  across  some  antelope 
so  numb  and  stiffened  that  they  could  barely 
limp  out  of  the  way. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  201 

Near  my  ranch  the  hail  killed  quite  a 
number  of  lambs.  These  were  the  miser- 
able remnants  of  a  flock  of  twelve  thousand 
p  driven  into  the  Bad  Lands  a  year  be- 
fore, four  fifths  of  whom  had  died  during 
the  first  winter,  to  the  delight  of  all  the 
neighboring  cattle-men.  Cattle-men  hate 
sheep,  because  they  eat  the  grass  so  close 
that  cattle  cannot  live  on  the  same  ground. 
The  sheep-herders  are  a  morose,  melan- 
choly set  of  men,  generally  afoot,  and  \\itli 
no  companionship  except  that  of  the  bleat- 
ing idiots  they  are  hired  to  guard.  No  man 
can  associate  with  sheep  and  retain  his  self- 
respect.  Intellectually  a  sheep  is  about  on 
the  lowest  level  of  the  brute  creation ;  why 
the  early  Christians  admired  it,  wh< 
young  or  old,  is  to  a  good  cattle-man  always 
a  profound  mystery. 

The  wagon  came  on  to  the  creek,  along 
whose  banks  we  had  taken  shelter,  and  we 
then  went  into  camp.  It  rained  all  night,  and 
there  was  a  thick  mist,  with  continual  sharp 
showers,  all  the  next  day  and  night.  The 


202  HUNTING  TRIPS 

wheeling  was,  in  consequence,  very  heavy, 
and  after  striking  the  Keogh  trail,  we  were 
able  to  go  along  it  but  a  few  miles  before 
the  fagged-out  look  of  the  team  and  the  ap- 
proach of  evening  warned  us  that  we  should 
have  to  go  into  camp  while  still  a  dozen 
miles  from  any  pool  or  spring.  Accord- 
ingly we  made  what  would  have  been  a  dry 
camp  had  it  not  been  for  the  incessant 
down-pour  of  rain,  which  we  gathered  in 
the  canvas  wagon-sheet  and  in  our  oilskin 
overcoats  in  sufficient  quantity  to  make 
coffee,  having  with  infinite  difficulty  started 
a  smouldering  fire  just  to  leeward  of  the 
wagon.  The  horses,  feeding  on  the  soaked 
grass,  did  not  need  water.  An  antelope, 
with  the  bold  and  heedless  curiosity  some- 
times shown  by  its  tribe,  came  up  within 
two  hundred  yards  of  us  as  we  were  build- 
ing the  fire;  but  though  one  of  us  took  a 
shot  at  him,  it  missed.  Our  shaps  and  oil- 
skins had  kept  us  perfectly  dry,  and  as  soon 
as  our  frugal  supper  was  over,  we  coiled  up 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  203 

among  the  boxes  and  bundles  inside  the 
wagon  and  slept  soundly  till  daybreak. 

When  the  sun  rose  next  day,  the  third 
we  were  out,  the  sky  was  clear,  and  we  two 
horsemen  at  once  prepared  to  make  a  hunt. 
Some  three  miles  off  to  the  south  of  where 
we  were  camped,  the  plateau  on  which  we 
were  sloped  off  into  a  great  expanse  of 
broken  ground,  with  chains  upon  chains  of 
steep  hills,  separated  by  deep  valleys,  wind- 
ing and  branching  in  every  direction,  their 
bottoms  filled  with  trees  and  brushwood. 
Toward  this  place  we  rode,  intending  to  go 
into  it  some  little  distance,  and  then  to  hunt 
along  through  it  near  the  edge.  As  soon  as 
we  got  down  near  the  brushy  ravine  we 
rode  along  without  talking,  guiding  the 
horses  as  far  as  possible  on  earthy  places, 
where  they  would  neither  stumble  nor 
strike  their  feet  against  stones,  and  not  let- 
ting our  rifle-barrels  or  spurs  clink  against 
any  thing.  Keeping  outside  of  the  brush, 
a  little  up  the  side  of  the  hill,  one  of  us 


204  HUNTING  TRIPS 

would  ride  along  each  side  of  the  ravine, 
examining  intently  with  our  eyes  every 
clump  of  trees  or  brushwood.  For  some 
time  we  saw  nothing,  but,  finally,  as  we 
were  riding  both  together  round  the  jutting 
spur  of  a  steep  hill,  my  companion  suddenly 
brought  his  horse  to  a  halt,  and  pointing 
across  the  shelving  bend  to  a  patch  of  trees 
well  up  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  broad  ra- 
vine, asked  me  if  I  did  not  see  a  deer  in  it. 
I  was  off  the  horse  in  a  second,  throwing 
the  reins  over  his  head.  We  were  in  the 
shadow  of  the  cliff-shoulder,  and  with  the 
wind  in  our  favor;  so  we  were  unlikely  to 
be  observed  by  the  game.  I  looked  long 
and  eagerly  toward  the  spot  indicated,  which 
was  about  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  yards 
from  us,  but  at  first  could  see  nothing.  By 
this  time,  however,  the  experienced  plains- 
man who  was  with  me  was  satisfied  that 
he  was  right  in  his  supposition,  and  he  told 
me  to  try  again  and  look  for  a  patch  of  red. 
I  saw  the  patch  at  once,  just  glimmering 
through  the  bushes,  but  should  certainly 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  205 

never  have  dreamed  it  was  a  deer  if  left  to 
myself.  Watching  it  attentively  I  soon  saw 
it  move  enough  to  satisfy  me  where  the 
head  lay ;  kneeling  on  one  knee  and  (as  it 
was  a  little  beyond  point-blank  range)  hold- 
ing at  the  top  of  the  portion  visible,  I  pulled 
trigger,  and  the  bright-colored  patch  disap- 
peared from  among  the  bushes.  The  aim 
was  a  good  one,  for,  on  riding  up  to  the 
brink  of  the  ravine,  we  saw  a  fine  white- 
tail  buck  lying  below  us,  shot  through  just 
behind  the  shoulder ;  he  was  still  in  the  red 
coat,  with  his  antlers  in  the  velvet. 

A  deer  is  far  from  being  such  an  easy 
animal  to  see  as  the  novice  is  apt  to  suppose. 
Until  the  middle  of  September  he  is  in  the 
red  coat ;  after  that  time  he  is  in  the  gray ; 
but  it  is  curious  how  each  one  harmonizes 
in  tint  with  certain  of  the  surroundings.  A 
red  doe  lying  down  is,  at  a  little  distance, 
undistinguishable  from  the  soil  on  which 
she  is ;  while  a  buck  in  the  gray  can  hardly 
be  made  out  in  dead  timber.  While  feed- 
ing quietly  or  standing  still,  they  rarely 


2o6  HUNTING  TRIPS 

show  the  proud,  free  port  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  associate  with  the  idea  of  a  Buck, 
and  look  rather  ordinary,  humble-seeming 
animals,  not  at  all  conspicuous  or  likely 
to  attract  the  hunter's  attention;  but  once 
let  them  be  frightened,  and  as  they  stand 
facing  the  danger,  or  bound  away  from  it, 
their  graceful  movements  and  lordly  bear- 
ing leave  nothing  to  be  desired.  The  black- 
tail  is  a  still  nobler-looking  animal;  while 
an  antelope,  on  the  contrary,  though  as  light 
and  quick  on  its  feet  as  is  possible  for  any 
animal  not  possessing  wings  to  be,  yet  has 
an  angular,  goat-like  look,  and  by  no  means 
conveys  to  the  beholder  the  same  idea  of 
grace  that  a  deer  does. 

In  coming  home,  on  this  wagon  trip,  we 
made  a  long  moonlight  ride,  passing  over 
between  sunset  and  sunrise  what  had  taken 
us  three  days'  journey  on  the  outward 
march.  Of  our  riding  horses,  two  were  still 
in  good  condition  and  well  able  to  stand 
a  twenty-four  hours'  jaunt,  in  spite  of  hard 
work  and  rough  usage;  the  spare  ones,  as 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  207 

well  as  the  team,  were  pretty  well  done 
up  and  could  get  along  but  slowly.  All  day 
long  we  had  been  riding  beside  the  wagon 
over  barren  sage-brush  plains,  following 
the  dusty  trails  made  by  the  beef-herds 
that  had  been  driven  toward  one  of  the 
Montana  shipping  towns. 

When  we  halted  for  the  evening  meal  we 
came  near  learning  by  practical  experience 
how  easy  it  is  to  start  a  prairie  fire.  We 
were  camped  by  a  dry  creek  on  a  broad  bot- 
tom covered  with  thick,  short  grass,  as  dry 
as  so  much  tinder.  We  wished  to  burn  a 
good  circle  clear  for  the  camp  fire;  light- 
ing it,  we  stood  round  with  branches  to  keep 
it  under.  While  thus  standing  a  puff  of 
wind  struck  us;  the  fire  roared  like  a  wild 
beast  as  it  darted  up;  and  our  hair  and 
eyelashes  were  well  singed  before  we  had 
beaten  it  out.  At  one  time  it  seemed  as  if, 
though  but  a  very  few  feet  in  extent,  it 
would  actually  get  away  from  us;  in  which 
case  the  whole  bottom  would  have  been 
a  blazing  furnace  within  five  minutes. 


ao8  HUNTING  TRIPS 

After  supper,  looking  at  the  worn-out 
condition  of  the  team,  we  realized  that  it 
would  take  three  more  days  travelling  at 
the  rate  we  had  been  going  to  bring  us  in, 
and  as  the  country  was  monotonous,  with- 
out much  game,  we  concluded  we  would 
leave  the  wagon  with  the  driver,  and  taking 
advantage  of  the  full  moon,  push  through 
the  whole  distance  before  breakfast  next 
morning.  Accordingly,  we  at  nine  o'clock 
again  saddled  the  tough  little  ponies  we  had 
ridden  all  day  and  loped  off  out  of  the  circle 
at  firelight.  For  nine  hours  we  rode 
steadily,  generally  at  a  quick  lope,  across  the 
moon-lit  prairie.  The  hoof-beats  of  our 
horses  rang  out  in  steady  rhythm  through 
the  silence  of  the  night,  otherwise  unbroken 
save  now  and  then  by  the  wailing  cry  of  a 
coyote.  The  rolling  plains  stretched  out  on 
all  sides  of  us,  shimmering  in  the  dear 
moonlight ;  and  occasionally  a  band  of  spec- 
tral-looking antelope  swept  silently  away 
from  before  our  path.  Once  we  went  by  a 
drove  of  Texan  cattle,  who  stared  wildly  at 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  209 

the  intruders;  as  we  passed  they  charged 
down  by  us,  the  ground  rumbling  beneath 
their  tread,  while  their  long  horns  knocked 
against  each  other  with  a  sound  like  the 
clattering  of  a  multitude  of  castanets.  We 
could  see  clearly  enough  to  keep  our  general 
course  over  the  trackless  plain,  steering  by 
the  stars  where  the  prairie  was  perfectly 
level  and  without  landmarks;  and  our  ride 
was  timed  well,  for  as  we  galloped  down 
into  the  valley  of  the  Little  Missouri  the 
sky  above  the  line  of  level  bluffs  in  our 
front  was  crimson  with  the  glow  of  the  un- 
risen  sun. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  BLACK-TAIL  DEER 

FAR  different  from  the  low-scudding, 
brush-loving  white-tail,  is  the  black- 
tail  deer,  the  deer  of  the  ravines  and  the 
rocky  uplands.  In  general  shape  and  form, 
both  are  much  alike;  but  the  black-tail  is 
the  larger  of  the  two,  with  heavier  antlers, 
of  which  the  prongs  start  from  one  another, 
as  if  each  of  the  tines  of  a  two-pronged 
pitchfork  had  bifurcated ;  and  in  some  cases 
it  looks  as  if  the  process  had  been  again  re- 
peated. The  tail,  instead  of  being  broad 
and  bushy  as  a  squirrel's,  spreading  from 
the  base,  and  pure  white  to  the  tip,  is  round 
and  close  haired,  witH  the  end  black,  though 
the  rest  is  white.  If  an  ordinary  deer  is 
running,  its  flaunting  flag  is  almost  its 
most  conspicuous  part;  but  no  one  would 
notice  the  tail  of  a  black-tail  deer. 

210 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  211 

All  deer  vary  greatly  in  size ;  and  a  small 
black-tail  buck  will  be  surpassed  in  bulk  by 
many  white-tails;  but  the  latter  never 
reaches  the  weight  and  height  sometimes  at- 
tained by  the  former.  The  same  holds  true 
of  the  antlers  borne  by  the  two  animals ;  on 
the  average  those  of  the  black-tail  are  the 
heavier,  and  exceptionally  large  antlers  of 
this  species  are  larger  than  any  of  the  white- 
tail.  Bucks  of  both  kinds  very  often  have, 
when  full-grown,  more  than  the  normal 
number  of  ten  points;  sometimes  these 
many-pronged  antlers  will  be  merely  de- 
formities, while  in  other  instances  the 
points  are  more  symmetrical,  and  add 
greatly  to  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the 
head.  The  venison  of  the  black-tail  is  said 
to  be  inferior  in  quality  to  that  of  the  white- 
tail;  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  detect 
much  difference,  though,  perhaps,  on  the 
whole,  the  latter  is  slightly  better. 

The  gaits  of  the  two  animals  are  widely 
different.  The  white-tail  runs  at  a  rolling 
gallop,  striking  the  ground  with  the  for- 


212  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ward  feet  first,  the  head  held  forward.  The 
black-tail,  on  the  contrary,  holds  its  head 
higher  up,  and  progresses  by  a  series  of 
prodigious  bounds,  striking  the  earth  with 
all  four  feet  at  once,  the  legs  held  nearly 
stiff.  It  seems  like  an  extraordinary  method 
of  running;  and  the  violent  exertion  tires 
the  deer  sooner  than  does  the  more  easy 
and  natural  gait  of  the  white-tail;  but  for 
a  mile  or  so  these  rapidly  succeeding  bounds 
enable  the  black-tail  to  get  over  the  ground 
at  remarkable  speed.  Over  rough  ground, 
along  precipitous  slopes,  and  among  the 
boulders  of  rocky  cliffs,  it  will  go  with  sur- 
prising rapidity  and  surefootedness,  only 
surpassed  by  the  feats  of  the  big-horn  in 
similar  localities,  and  not  equalled  by  those 
of  any  other  plains  game. 

One  of  the  noticeable  things  in  western 
plains  hunting  is  the  different  zones  or  bands 
of  territory  inhabited  by  different  kinds  of 
game.  Along  the  alluvial  land  of  the  rivers 
and  large  creeks  is  found  the  white-tail. 
Back  of  these  alluvial  lands  generally  comes  a 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  213 

broad  tract  of  broken,  hilly  country,  scantily 
clad  with  brush  in  some  places ;  this  is  the 
abode  of  the  black-tail  deer.  And  where 
these  hills  rise  highest,  and  where  the 
ground  is  most  rugged  and  barren,  there 
the  big-horn  is  found.  After  this  hilly 
country  is  passed,  in  travelling  away  from 
the  river,  we  come  to  the  broad,  level  plains, 
the  domain  of  the  antelope.  Of  course  the 
habitats  of  the  different  species  overlap  at 
the  edges ;  and  this  overlapping  is  most  ex- 
tended in  the  cases  of  the  big-horn  and  the 
black-tail. 

The  -Bad  Lands  are  the  favorite  haunts 
of  the  black-tail.  Here  the  hills  are  steep 
and  rugged,  cut  up  and  crossed  in  every  di- 
rection by  canyon-like  ravines  and  val 
which  branch  out  and  subdivide  in  the  most 
intricate  and  perplexing  manner.  Here  and 
there  are  small  springs,  or  pools,  marked  by 
the  greener  vegetation  growing  round 
them.  Along  the  bottoms  and  sides  of  the 
ravines  there  are  patches  of  scrubby  under- 
growth, and  in  many  of  the  pockets  or  glens 


214  HUNTING  TRIPS 

in  the  sides  of  the  hills  the  trees  grow  to 
some  little  height.  High  buttes  rise  here 
and  there,  naked  to  the  top,  or  else  covered 
with  stunted  pines  and  cedars,  which  also 
grow  in  the  deep  ravines  and  on  the  edges 
of  the  sheer  canyons.  Such  lands,  where 
the  ground  is  roughest,  and  where  there  is 
some  cover,  even  though  scattered  and 
scanty,  are  the  best  places  to  find  the  black- 
tail.  Naturally  their  pursuit  needs  very  dif- 
ferent qualities  in  the  hunter  from  those  re- 
quired in  the  chase  of  the  white-tail.  In  the 
latter  case  stealth  and  caution  are  the  prime 
requisites;  while  the  man  who  would  hunt 
and  kill  the  deer  of  the  uplands  has  more 
especial  need  of  energy,  activity,  and  endur- 
ance, of  good  judgment  and  of  skill  with  the 
rifle.  Hunting  the  black-tail  is  beyond  all 
comparison  the  nobler  sport.  Indeed, 
there  is  no  kind  of  plains  hunting,  except 
only  the  chase  of  the  big-horn,  more  fitted 
to  bring  out  the  best  and  hardiest  of  the 
many  qualities  which  go  to  make  up  a  good 
hunter. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  215 

It  is  still  a  moot  question  whether  it  is 
better  to  hunt  on  horseback  or  on  foot ;  but 
the  course  of  events  is  rapidly  deciding  it 
in  favor  of  the  latter  method.  Undoubtedly 
it  is  easier  and  pleasanter  to  hunt  on  horse- 
back ;  and  it  has  the  advantage  of  covering 
a  great  deal  of  ground.  But  it  is  impossible 
to  advance  with  such  caution,  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  shoot  as  quickly,  as  when  on  foot ; 
and  where  the  deer  are  shy  and  not  very 
plenty,  the  most  enthusiastic  must,  slowly 
and  reluctantly  but  surely,  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  large  bag  can  only  be  made 
by  the  still-hunter  who  goes  on  foot.  Of 
course,  in  the  plains  country  it  is  not  as  in 
mountainous  or  thickly  wooded  regions,  and 
the  horse  should  almost  always  be  taken  as 
a  means  of  conveyance  to  the  hunting- 
grounds  and  from  one  point  to  another ;  but 
the  places  where  game  is  expected  should, 
as  a  rule,  be  hunted  over  on  foot.  This  rule 
is  by  no  means  a  general  one,  however. 
There  are  still  many  localities  where  the 
advantage  of  covering  a  great  deal  of 


216  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ground  more  than  counterbalances  the  dis- 
advantage of  being  on  horseback.  About 
one  third  of  my  hunts  are  still  made  on 
horseback ;  and  in  almost  all  the  others  I 
take  old  Manitou  to  carry  me  to  and  from 
the  grounds  and  to  pack  out  any  game  that 
may  be  killed.  A  hunting-horse  is  of  no 
use  whatever  unless  he  will  permit  a  man 
to  jump  from  his  back  and  fire  with  the 
greatest  rapidity;  and  nowhere  does  prac- 
tice have  more  to  do  with  success  than  in 
the  case  of  jumping  off  a  horse  to  shoot  at 
game  which  has  just  been  seen.  The  vari- 
ous movements  take  a  novice  a  good  deal 
of  time ;  while  an  old  hand  will  be  off  and 
firing  with  the  most  instantaneous  quick- 
ness. Manitou  can  be  left  anywhere  at  a 
moment's  warning,  while  his  rider  leaps  off, 
shoots  at  a  deer  from  almost  under  his  head, 
and  perhaps  chases  the  wounded  animal  a 
mile  or  over ;  and  on  his  return  the  good  old 
fellow  will  be  grazing  away,  perfectly  happy 
and  contented,  and  not  making  a  movement 
to  run  off  or  evade  being  caught. 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 

One  method  of  killing  deer  on  horseback 
is  very  exciting.  Many  of  the  valleys  or 
ravines  extend  with  continual  abrupt  turns 
and  windings  for  several  miles,  the  brush 
and  young  trees  stretching  with  constant 
breaks  down  the  middle  of  the  bottom,  and 
leaving  a  space  on  each  side  along  which  a 
surefooted  horse  can  gallop  at  speed.  Two 
men,  on  swift,  hardy  horses,  can  hunt  down 
such  a  ravine  very  successfully  at  evening, 
by  each  taking  a  side  and  galloping  at  a 
good  speed  the  whole  length  against  the 
1  The  patter  of  the  unshod  hoofs  over 
the  turf  makes  but  little  noise ;  and  the  turns 
are  so  numerous  and  abrupt,  and  the  horses 
go  so  swiftly,  that  the  hunters  come  on  the 
deer  almost  before  the  latter  are  aware  of 
their  presence.  If  it  is  so  late  in  the  day 
that  the  deer  have  begun  to  move  they  will 
find  the  horses  close  up  before  they  have  a 
suspicion  of  danger,  while  if  they  are  still 
lying  in  the  cover  the  suddenness  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  their  foe  is  apt  to  so  startle  them 
as  to  make  them  break  out  and  show  them- 


2i8  HUNTING  TRIPS 

selves  instead  of  keeping  hid,  as  they  would 
probably  do  if  they  perceived  the  approach 
from  afar.  One  thus  gets  a  close  running  shot 
or  if  he  waits  a  minute  he  will  generally  get 
a  standing  shot  at  some  little  distance,  ow- 
ing to  a  very  characteristic  habit  of  the 
black-tail.  This  is  its  custom  of  turning 
round,  apparently  actuated  simply  by  curi- 
osity, to  look  at  the  object  which  startled  it, 
after  it  has  run  off  a  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  or  so.  It  then  stands  motionless  for 
a  few  seconds,  and  offers  a  chance  for  a 
steady  shot.  If  the  chance  is  not  improved, 
no  other  will  offer,  for  as  soon  as  the  deer 
has  ended  its  scrutiny  it  is  off  again,  and 
this  time  will  not  halt  till  well  out  of  dan- 
ger. Owing  to  its  singular  gait  a  succes- 
sion of  buck  jumps,  the  black-tail  is  a  pecul- 
iarly difficult  animal  to  hit  while  on  the  run ; 
and  it  is  best  to  wait  until  it  stops  and  turns 
before  taking  the  shot,  as  if  fired  at,  the  re- 
port will  generally  so  alarm  it  as  to  make  it 
continue  its  course  without  halting  to  look 
back.  Some  of  the  finest  antlers  in  my 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


219 


possession  come  from  bucks  killed  by  this 
method  of  hunting ;  and  it  is  a  most  exhilar- 
ating form  of  sport,  the  horse  galloping 
rapidly  over  what  is  often  very  broken 
ground,  and  the  senses  being  continually 
on  the  alert  for  any  sign  of  game.  The  rush 
and  motion  of  the  horse,  and  the  care  neces- 
sary to  guide  it  and  at  the  same  time  be 
in  constant  readiness  for  a  shot,  prevent  the 
chase  having  any  of  the  monotony  that  is  at 
times  inseparable  from  still-hunting  proper. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  by  still-hunting  that 
most  deer  are  killed,  and  the  highest  form 
of  hunting  craft  is  shown  in  the  science  of 
the  skilful  still-hunter.  With  sufficient 
practice  any  man  who  possesses  common- 
sense  and  is  both  hardy  and  persevering  can 
become,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  still-hunter. 
But  the  really  good  still-hunter  is  born 
rather  than  made ;  though  of  course  in  addi- 
tion to  possessing  the  gifts  naturally  he  must 
also  have  developed  them,  by  constant  prac- 
tice, to  the  highest  point  possible.  One  of 
the  foremen  on  my  ranch  is  a  really  remark- 


220  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ably  good  hunter  and  game  shot,  and  an- 
other does  almost  as  well;  but  the  rest  of 
us  are  not,  and  never  will  be,  any  thing  very 
much  out  of  the  common.  By  dint  of  prac- 
tice we  have  learned  to  shoot  as  well  at  game 
as  at  a  target ;  and  those  of  us  who  are  fond 
of  the  sport  hunt  continually  and  so  get  a 
good  deal  of  game  at  one  time  or  another. 
Hunting  through  good  localities,  up  wind, 
quietly  and  perseveringly,  we  come  upon 
quite  a  number  of  animals ;  and  we  can  kill 
a  standing  shot  at  a  fair  distance  and  a  run- 
ning shot  close  up,  and  by  good  luck  every 
now  and  then  kill  far  off ;  but  to  much  more 
than  is  implied  in  the  description  of  such 
modest  feats  we  cannot  pretend. 

After  the  disappearance  of  the  buffalo 
and  the  thinning  out  of  the  elk,  the  black- 
tail  was,  and  in  most  places  it  still  is,  the 
game  most  sought  after  by  the  hunters;  I 
have  myself  shot  as  many  of  them  as  of  all 
other  kinds  of  plains  game  put  together. 
But  for  this  very  reason  it  is  fast  disappear- 
ing; and  bids  fair  to  be  the  next  animal, 


OP  A  RANCHMAN  221 

the  buffalo  and  elk,  to  vanish  from  the 
places  that  formerly  knew  it.  The  big-horn 
and  the  prong-horn  are  more  difficult  to 
stalk  and  kill,  partly  from  their  greater  nat- 
ural wariness,  and  partly  from  the  kind  of 
ground  on  which  they  are  found.  But  it 
seems  at  first  sight  strange  that  the  black- 
tail  should  be  exterminated  or  driven  away 
so  much  more  quickly  than  the  white-tail, 
when  it  has  sharper  ears  and  nose,  is  more 
tenacious  of  life,  and  is  more  wary.  The 
main  reason  is  to  be  found  in  the  difference 
in  the  character  of  the  haunts  of  the  two 
creatures.  The  black-tail  is  found  on  much 
more  open  ground,  where  the  animals  can 
be  seen  farther  off,  where  it  is  much  easier 
to  take  advantage  of  the  direction  of  the 
wind  and  to  get  along  without  noise,  and 

e  far  more  country  can  be  traversi 
a  given  time ;  and  though  the  average  length 
of  the  shots  taken  is  in  one  case  two  or  three 
times  as  great  as  in  the  other,  yet  tl 
more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  fact  that 
they  are  more  often  standing  ones,  and  that 


222  HUNTING  TRIPS 

there  is  usually  much  more  time  for  aiming. 
Moreover,  one  kind  of  sport  can  be  followed 
on  horseback,  while  the  other  must  be  fol- 
lowed on  foot;  and  then  the  chase  of  the 
white-tail,  in  addition,  is  by  far  the  more 
tedious  and  patience-trying.  And  the  black- 
tail  are  much  the  more  easily  scared  or 
driven  out  of  a  locality  by  persecution  or  by 
the  encroaching  settlements.  All  these 
qualities  combine  to  make  it  less  able  to 
hold  its  own  against  mankind  than  its 
smaller  rival.  It  is  the  favorite  game  of  the 
skin  hunters  and  meat  hunters,  and  has,  in 
consequence,  already  disappeared  from 
many  places,  while  in  others  its  extermina- 
tion is  going  on  at  a  frightfully  rapid  rate, 
owing  to  its  being  followed  in  season  and 
out  of  season  without  mercy.  Besides,  the  cat- 
tle are  very  fond  of  just  the  places  to  which 
it  most  often  resorts;  and  wherever  cattle 
go  the  cowboys  ride  about  after  them,  with 
their  ready  six-shooters  at  their  hips.  They 
blaze  away  at  any  deer  they  see,  of  course, 
and  in  addition  to  now  and  then  killing  or 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  223 

wounding  one,  continually  harry  and  dis- 
turb the  poor  animals.  In  the  more  re- 
mote and  inaccessible  districts  the  black-tail 
will  long  hold  its  own,  to  be  one  of  the  ani- 
mals whose  successful  pursuit  will  redound 
most  to  the  glory  of  the  still-hunter ;  but  in 
a  very  few  years  it  will  have  ceased  entirely 
to  be  one  of  the  common  game  animals  of 
the  plains. 

Its  great  curiosity  is  one  of  the  disadvan- 
tages under  which  it  labors  in  the  fierce 
struggle  for  existence,  compared  to  the  wfiite- 
tail.  The  latter,  when  startled,  does  not  often 
*  stop  to  look  round ;  but,  as  already  said,  the 
former  will  generally  do  so  after  having 
gone  a  few  hundred  feet.  The  first  black- 
tail  I  ever  killed — unfortunately  killed,  for 
the  body  was  not  found  until  spoiled — was 
obtained  owing  solely  to  this  peculiarity.  I 
had  been  riding  up  along  the  side  of  a  brushy 
coulie,  when  a  fine  buck  started  out  some 
thirty  yards  ahead.  Although  so  close,  my 
first  shot,  a  running  one,  was  a  miss ;  when 
a  couple  of  hundred  yards  off,  on  the  very 


224  HUNTING  TRIPS 

crest  of  the  spur  up  which  he  had  run, 
he  stopped  and  turned  partially  round.  Fir- 
ing again  from  a  rest,  the  bullet  broke  his 
hind  leg  far  up  and  went  into  his  body.  Off 
he  went  on  three  legs,  and  I  after  him  as 
fast  as  the  horse  could  gallop.  He  went 
over  the  spur  and  down  into  the  valley  of 
the  creek  from  which  the  coulie  branched 
up,  in  very  bad  ground.  My  pony  was 
neither  fast  nor  surefooted,  but  of  course 
in  half  a  mile  overhauled  the  three-legged 
deer,  which  turned  short  off  and  over  the 
side  of  the  hill  flanking  the  valley.  Instead 
of  running  right  up  on  it  I  foolishly  dis-  ' 
mounted  and  began  firing;  after  the  first 
shot — a  miss — it  got  behind  a  boulder  hith- 
erto unseen,  and  thence  over  the  crest.  The 
pony  meanwhile  had  slipped  its  hind  leg 
into  the  rein ;  when,  after  some  time,  I  got 
it  out  and  galloped  up  to  the  ridge,  the  most 
careful  scrutiny  of  which  my  unpractised 
eyes  were  capable  failed  to  discover  a  track 
on  the  dry  ground,  hard  as  granite.  A  day 
of  two  afterwards  the  place  where  the  car- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  225 

cass  lay  was  made  known  by  the  vultures, 
gathered  together  from  all  parts  to  feed 
upon  it. 

When  fired  at  from  a  place  of  hiding, 
deer  which  have  not  been  accustomed  to  the 
report  of  a  gun  will  often  appear  confused 
and  uncertain  what  to  do.  On  one  occa- 
sion, while  hunting  in  the  mountains,  I  saw 
an  old  buck  with  remarkably  large  horns,  of 
us  and  beautiful  shape,  more  sym- 
metrical than  in  most  instances  where  the 
normal  form  is  departed  from.  The  deer 
was  feeding  in  a  wide,  gently  sloping  val- 
ontaining  no  cov^er  from  behind  which 
to  approach  him.  We  were  in  no  need  of 
meat,  but  the  antlers  were  so  fine  that  I 
felt  they  justified  the  death  of  their  bearer. 
After  a  little  patient  waitng,  the  buck 
walked  out  of  the  valley,  and  over  the  ridge 
on  the  other  side,  moving  up  wind ;  I  raced 
after  him,  and  crept  up  behind  a  thick 
of  stunted  cedars,  which  had  started 
up  from  among  some  boulders.  The  deer 
was  about  a  hundred  yards  off,  down  in  the 


226  HUNTING  TRIPS 

valley.  Out  of  breath,  and  over-confident, 
I  fired  hastily,  overshooting  him.  The  wind 
blew  the  smoke  back  away  from  the  ridge, 
so  that  he  saw  nothing,  while  the  echo  pre- 
vented his  placing  the  sound.  He  took  a 
couple  of  jumps  nearer,  when  he  stood  still 
and  was  again  overshot.  Again  he  took  a 
few  jumps,  and  the  third  shot  went  below 
him;  and  the  fourth  just  behind  him.  This 
was  too  much,  and  away  he  went.  In  des- 
pair I  knelt  down  (I  had  been  firing  off- 
hand), took  a  steady  aim  well- for  ward  on 
his  body,  and  fired,  bringing  him  down,  but 
with  small  credit  to  the  shot,  for  the  bul- 
let had  gone  into  his  hip,  paralyzing  his 
hind-quarters.  The  antlers  are  the  finest 
pair  I  ever  got,  and  form  a  magnificent  or- 
nament for  the  hall;  but  the  shooting  is 
hardly  to  be  recalled  with  pleasure.  Still, 
though  certainly  very  bad,  it  was  not  quite 
as  discreditable  as  the  mere  target  shot 
would  think.  I  have  seen  many  a  crack 
marksman  at  the  target  do  quite  as  bad 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  227 

missing  when  out  in  the  field,  and  that  not 
once,  but  again  and  again. 

Of  course,  in  those  parts  of  the  wilder- 
ness where  the  black-tail  are  entirely  un- 
used to  man,  they  are  as  easy  to  approach 
(from  the  leeward  side)  as  is  any  and  every 
other  kind  of  game  under  like  conditions. 
In  lonely  spots,  to  which  hunters  rarely  or 
never  penetrate,  deer  of  this  species  will 
stand  and  look  at  a  hunter  without  offer- 
ing to  run  away  till  he  is  within  fifty  yards 
of  them,  if  he  will  advance  quietly.  In  a 
far-off  mountain  forest  I  have  more  than 
once  shot  a  young  buck  at  less  than  that 
distance  as  he  stood  motionless,  gazing  at 
me,  although  but  little  caution  had  been 
used  in  approaching  him. 

But  a  short  experience  of  danger  on  the 
part  of  the  black-tail  changes  all  this ;  and 
where  hunters  are  often  afoot,  he  becomes 
ild  and  wary  as  may  be.  Then  the  suc- 
cessful still-hunter  shows  that  he  is  indeed 
well  up  in  the  higher  forms  of  hunting  craft. 


228  HUNTING  TRIPS 

For  the  man  who  can,  not  once  by  accident, 
but  again  and  again,  as  a  regular  thing, 
single-handed,  find  and  kill  his  black-tail, 
has  shown  that  he  is  no  mere  novice  in  his 
art;  still-hunting  the  black-tail  is  a  sport 
that  only  the  skilful  can  follow  with  good 
results,  and  one  which  implies  in  the  suc- 
cessful sportsman  the  presence  of  most  of 
the  still-hunter's  rarest  attributes.  All  of 
the  qualities  which  a  still-hunter  should  pos- 
sess are  of  service  in  the  pursuit  of  any 
kind  of  game;  but  different  ones  will  be 
called  into  especial  play  in  hunting  different 
kinds  of  animals.  Thus,  to  be  a  successful 
hunter  after  any  thing,  a  man  should  be 
patient,  resolute,  hardy,  and  with  good 
judgment;  he  should  have  good  lungs  and 
stout  muscles;  he  should  be  able  to  move 
with  noiseless  stealth ;  and  he  should  be 
keen-eyed,  and  a  first-rate  marksman  with 
the  rifle.  But  in  different  kinds  of  shoot- 
ing, the  relative  importance  of  these  quali- 
ties varies  greatly.  In  hunting  white-tail 
deer,  the  two  prime  requisites  are  stealth 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  229 

and  patience.  If  the  quarry  is  a  big-horn, 
a  man  needs  especially  to  be  sound  in  wind 
and  limbs,  and  to  be  both  hardy  and  reso- 
lute. Skill  in  the  use  of  the  long-range  rifle 
counts  for  more  in  antelope  hunting  than 
in  any  other  form  of  sport ;  and  it  is  in  this 
kind  of  hunting  alone  that  good  marksman- 
ship is  more  important  than  any  thing  else. 
With  dangerous  game,  cool  and  steady 
nerves  are  of  the  first  consequence ;  all  else 
comes  after.  Then,  again,  in  the  use  of  the 
rifle,  the  kind  of  skill — not  merely  the  de- 
gree of  skill — required  to  hunt  different 
animals  may  vary  greatly.  In  shooting 
white-tail,  it  is  especially  necessary  to  be  a 
good  snap  shot  at  running  game ;  when  the 
distance  is  close,  quickness  is  an  essential. 
But  at  antelope  there  is  plenty  of  time,  and 
what  is  necessary  is  ability  to  judge  dis- 
tance, and  capacity  to  hit  a  small  station- 
ary object  at  long  range. 

The  different  degrees  of  estimation  in 
which  the  chase  of  the  various  kinds  of 
plains  game  is  held  depend  less  upon  the 


230  HUNTING  TRIPS 

difficulty  of  capture  than  upon  the  nature 
of  the  qualities  in  the  hunter  which  each  par- 
ticular form  of  hunting  calls  into  play.  A 
man  who  is  hardy,  resolute,  and  a  good 
shot,  has  come  nearer  to  realizing  the  ideal 
of  a  bold  and  free  hunter  than  is  the  case 
with  one  who  is  merely  stealthy  and  pa- 
tient; and  so,  though  to  kill  a  white-tail  is 
rather  more  difficult  than  to  kill  a  black- 
tail,  yet  the  chase  of  the  latter  is  certainly 
the  nobler  form  of  sport,  for  it  calls  into 
play,  and  either  develops  or  implies  the 
presence  of,  much  more  manly  qualities 
than  does  the  other.  Most  hunters  would 
find  it  nearly  as  difficult  to  watch  in  silence 
by  a  salt-lick  throughout  the  night,  and 
then  to  butcher  with  a  shot-gun  a  white- 
tail,  as  it  would  be  to  walk  on  foot  through 
rough  ground  from  morning  till  evening, 
and  to  fairly  approach  and  kill  a  black-tail ; 
yet  there  is  no  comparison  between  the  de- 
gree of  credit  to  be  attached  to  one  feat 
and  that  to  be  attached  to  the  other.  Indeed, 
if  difficulty  in  killing  is  to  be  taken  as  a  cri- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  231 

terion,  a  mink  or  even  a  weasel  would  have 
to  stand  as  high  up  in  the  scale  as  a  deer, 
were  the  animals  equally  plenty. 

Ranged  in  the  order  of  the  difficulty  with 
which  they  are  approached  and  slain,  plains 
game  stand  as  follows:  big-horn,  antelope, 
white-tail,  black-tail,  elk,  and  buffalo.  But, 
as  regards"  the  amount  of  manly  sport  fur- 
nished by  the  chase  of  each,  the  white-tail 
should  stand  at  the  bottom  of  the  list,  and 
the  elk  and  black-tail  abreast  of  the  ante- 
lope. 

Other  things  being  equal,  the  length  of 
an  animal's  stay  in  the  land,  when  the  arch 
foe  of  all  lower  forms  of  animal  life  has 
made  his  appearance,  therein,  depends  upon 
the  difficulty  with  which  he  is  hunted  and 
slain.  But  other  influences  have  to  be  taken 
into  account.  The  big-horn  is  shy  and  re- 
tiring; very  few,  compared  to  the  whole 
number  will  be  killed;  and  yet  the  others 
vanish  completely.  Apparently  they  will  not 
remain  where  they  are  hunted  and  dis- 
turbed. With  antelope  and  white-tail  this 


HUNTING  TRIPS 

does  not  hold ;  they  will  cling  to  a  place  far 
more  tenaciously,  even  if  often  harassed. 
The  former  being  the  more  conspicuous,  and 
living  in  such  open  ground,  is  apt  to  be 
more  persecuted;  while  the  white-tail, 
longer  than  any  other  animal,  keeps  its 
place  in  the  land  in  spite  of  the  swinish 
game  butchers,  who  hunt  for  hides  and  not 
for  sport  or  actual  food,  and  who  murder 
the  gravid  doe  and  the  spotted  fawn  with 
as  little  hesitation  as  they  would  kill  a  buck 
of  ten  points.  No  one  who  is  not  himself 
a  sportsman  and  lover  of  nature  can  realize 
the  intense  indignation  with  which  a  true 
hunter  sees  these  butchers  at  their  brutal 
work  of  slaughtering  the  game,  in  season 
and  out,  for  the  sake  of  the  few  dollars  they 
are  too  lazy  to  earn  in  any  other  and  more 
honest  way. 

All  game  animals  rely  upon  both  eyes, 
ears,  and  nose  to  warn  them  of  the  approach 
of  danger ;  but  the  amount  of  reliance 
placed  on  each  sense  varies  greatly  in  dif- 
ferent species.  Those  found  out  on  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  233 

plains  pay  very  little  attention  to  what  they 
hear;  indeed,  in  the  open  they  can  hardly 
be  approadu  <1  iu-ar  enough  to  make  of  much 
account  any  ordinary  amount  of  noise 
caused  by  the  stalker,  especially  as  the  lat- 
ter is  walking  over  little  but  grass  and  soft 
earth.  The  buffalo,  whose  shaggy  front- 
let of  hair  falls  over  his  eyes  and  prevents 
his  seeing  at  any  great  distance,  depends 
mainly  upon  his  exquisite  sense  of  smell. 
The  antelope,  on  the  other  hand,  depends  al- 
most entirely  on  his  great,  bulging  eyes,  and 
very  little  on  his  nose.  His  sight  is  many 
times  as  good  as  that  of  deer,  both  species 
of  which,  as  well  as  elk,  rely  both  upon 
sight  and  hearing,  but  most  of  all  upon  their 
sense  of  smell,  for  their  safety.  The  big- 
horn has  almost  as  keen  eyesight  as  an  ante- 
lope, while  his  ears  and  nose  are  as  sens 
to  sound  and  scent  as  are  those  of  an  elk. 

Black-tail,  like  other  members  of  the  deer 
family,  do  not  pay  much  attention  to  an  ob- 
ject which  is  not  moving.  A  hunter  who 
is  standing  motionless  or  squatting  do\\ 


HUNTING  TRIPS 

not  likely  to  receive  attention,  while  a  big- 
horn or  prong-horn  would  probably  see  him 
and  take  the  alarm  at  once ;  and  if  the  black- 
tail  is  frightened  and  running  he  will  run 
almost  over  a  man  standing  in  plain  sight, 
without  paying  any  heed  to  him,  if  the  latter 
does  not  move.  But  the  very  slightest  move- 
ment at  once  attracts  a  deer's  attention,  and 
deer  are  not  subject  to  the  panics  that  at 
times  overtake  other  kinds  of  game.  The 
black-tail  has  much  curiosity,  which  often 
proves  fatal  to  it ;  but  which  with  it  is  after 
all  by  no  means  the  ungovernable  passion 
that  it  is  with  antelope.  The  white-tail  and 
the  big-horn  are  neither  over-afflicted  with 
morbid  curiosity,  nor  subject  to  panics  or  fits 
of  stupidity ;  and  both  these  animals,  as  well 
as  the  black-tail,  seem  to  care  very  little  for 
the  death  of  tfie  leader  of  the  band,  going 
their  own  ways  with  small  regard  for  the 
fate  of  the  chief,  while  elk  will  huddle  to- 
gether in  a  confused  group,  and  remain  al- 
most motionless  when  their  leader  is  struck 
down.  Antelope  and  more  especially  elk 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  235 

are  subject  to  perfect  panics  of  unreasoning 
terror,  during  which  they  will  often  put 
themselves  completely  in  the  power  of  the 
hunter;  while  buffalo  will  frequently  show 
a  downright  stupidity  almost  unequalled. 

The  black-tail  suffers  from  no  such  pe- 
culiarities. His  eyes  are  good ;  his  nose  and 
ears  excellent.  He  is  ever  alert  and  wary ; 
his  only  failing  is  his  occasional  over-curi- 
osity; and  his  pursuit  taxes  to  the  utmost 
the  skill  and  resources  of  the  still-hunter. 

By  all  means  the  best  coverings  for  the 
feet  when  still-hunting  are  moccasins,  as 
with  them  a  man  can  go  noiselessly  through 
ground  where  hobnailed  boots  would  clatter 
like  the  hoofs  of  a  horse ;  but  in  hunting  in 
winter  over  the  icy  buttes  and  cliffs  it  is  best 
to  have  stout  shoes,  with  nails  in  the  soles, 
and  if  the  main  work  is  done  on  horseback 
it  is  best  to  wear  high  boots,  as  they  keep 
the  trousers  down.  Indeed  in  the  Bad 
Lands  boots  have  other  advantages,  for  rat- 
tlesnakes abound,  and  against  these  they  af- 
ford perfect  protection — unless  a  man 


236  HUNTING  TRIPS 

should  happen  to  stumble  on  a  snake  while 
crawling  along  on  all  fours.  But  moccasins 
are  beyond  all  comparison  the  best  footgear 
for  hunting.  In  very  cold  weather  a  fur 
cap  which  can  be  pulled  down  over  the  ears 
is  a  necessity ;  but  at  other  times  a  brimmed 
felt  hat  offers  better  protection  against  both 
sun  and  rain.  The  clothes  should  be  of 
some  neutral  tint — buckskin  is  on  this  ac- 
count excellent — and  very  strong. 

The  still-hunter  should  be  well  acquainted 
with,  at  any  rate,  certain  of  the  habits  of  his 
quarry.  There  are  seasons  when  the  black- 
tail  is  found  in  bands ;  such  is  apt  to  be  the 
case  when  the  rutting  time  is  over.  At  this 
period,  too,  the  deer  wander  far  and  wide, 
making  what  may  almost  be  called  a  migra- ! 
tion ;  and  in  rutting  time  the  bucks  follow 
the  does  at  speed  for  miles  at  a  stretch.  But 
except  at  these  seasons  each  individual 
black-tail  has  a  certain  limited  tract  of  coun- 
try to  which  he  confines  himself  unless  dis- 
turbed or  driven  away,  not,  of  course,  keep- 
ing in  the  same  spot  all  the  time,  but  work- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  237 

ing  round  among  a  particular  set  of  ravines 
and  coulies,  where  the  feed  is  good,  and 
^e  water  can  be  obtained  without  going 
too  far  out  of  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
Throughout  the  plains  country  the  black- 
tail  lives  in  the  broken  ground,  seldom  com- 
ing down  to  the  alluvial  bottoms  or  out  on 
the  open  prairies  and  plateaus.  But  he  is 
found  all  through  this  broken  ground. 
Sometimes  it  is  rolling  in  character  with 
rounded  hills  and  gentle  valleys,  dotted  here 
and  there  with  groves  of  trees ;  or  the  hills 
may  rise  into  high  chains,  covered  with  an 
open  pine  forest,  sending  off  long  spurs  and 
led  by  deep  valleys  and  basins.  Such 
places  are  favorite  resorts  of  this  deer ;  but 
it  is  as. plentiful  in  the  Bad  Lands  proper. 
There  are  tracts  of  these  which  are  in  part 
or  wholly  of  volcanic  origin ;  then  the  hills 
are  called  scoria  buttes.  They  are  high  and 
very  steep,  but  with  rounded  tops  and  edges, 
and  are  covered,  as  is  the  ground  round 
about,  with  scoriae  boulders.  Bushes,  and 
sometimes  a  few  cedar,  grow  among  them, 


23 8  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  thronged  they  would  seem  to  be  most  un- 
likely places  for  deer,  yet  black-tail  are  very 
fond  of  them,  and  are  very  apt  to  be  found 
among  them.  Often  in  the  cold  fall  morn- 
ings they  will  lie  out  among  the  boulders. 
on  the  steep  side  of  such  a  scoria  butte, 
sunning  themselves,  far  from  any  cover  ex- 
cept a  growth  of  brushwood  in  the  bottom 
• 

of  the  dry  creeks  or  coulies.  The  grass  on 
top  of  and  between  these  scoria  buttes  is 
often  very  nutritious,  and  cattle  are  also 
fond  of  it.  The  higher  buttes  are  choice 
haunts  of  the  mountain  sheep. 

Nineteen  twentieths  of  the  Bad  Lands, 
however,  owe  their  origin  not  to  volcanic 
action  but  to  erosion  and  to  the  peculiar 
weathering  forces  always  at  work  in  the 
dry  climate  of  the  plains.  Geologically  the 
land  is  for  the  most  part  composed  of  a  set 
of  parallel,  perfectly  horizontal  strata,  of 
clay,  marl,  or  sandstone,  which,  being  of  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  hardness,  offer  some  more 
and  some  less  resistance  to  the  action  of  the 
weather.  The  table-lands,  peaks,  cliffs,  and 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  239 

jagged  ridges  are  caused  solely  by  the  rains 
and  torrents  cutting  away  the  land  into 
channels,  which  at  first  are  merely  wash- 
outs, and  at  last  grow  into  deep  canyons, 
winding  valleys,  and  narrow  ravines  or 
basins.  The  sides  of  these  cuts  are  at  first 
perpendicular,  exposing  to  view  the  various 
bands  of  soil,  perhaps  of  a  dozen  different 
colors;  the  hardest  bands  resist  the  action 
of  the  weather  best  and  form  narrow  ledges 
stretching  along  the  face  of  the  cliff.  Peaks 
of  the  most  fantastic  shape  are  formed  in 
this  manner;  and  where  a  ridge  is  worn 
away  on  each  side  its  crest  may  be  as  sharp 
as  a  knife  blade,  but  all  notched  and  jagged. 
The  peaks  and  ridges  vary  in  height  from  a 
few  feet  to  several  hundred;  the  sides  of 
the  buttes  are  generally  worn  down  in  places 
so  as  to  be  steeply  sloping  instead  of  per- 
pendicular. The  long  wash-outs  and  the 
canyons  and  canyon-like  valleys  stretch  and 
branch  out  in  every  direction ;  the  dr\ 
of  the  atmosphere,  the  extremes  of  intense 
heat  and  bitter  cold,  and  the  occasional  furi- 


240  HUNTING  TRIPS. 

ous  rain-storms  keep  the  edges  and  angles 
sharp  and  jagged,  and  pile  up  boulders  and 
masses  of  loose  detritus  at  the  foot  of  the 
cliffs  and  great  lonely  crags.  Sometimes 
the  valleys  are  quite  broad,  with  steep  sides 
and  with  numerous  pockets,  separated  by 
spurs  jutting  out  into  the  bottom  from  the 
lateral  ridges.  Other  ravines  or  clefts  taper 
down  to  a  ditch,  a  foot  or  so  wide,  from 
which  the  banks  rise  at  an  angle  of  sixty 
degrees  to  the  tops  of  the  enclosing  ridges. 

The  faces  of  the  terraced  cliffs  and  sheer 
crags  are  bare  of  all  but  the  scantiest  vege- 
tation, and  where  the  Bad  Lands  are  most 
rugged  and  broken  the  big-horn  is  the  only 
game  found.  But  in  most  places  the  tops 
of  the  buttes,  the  sides  of  the  slopes,  and  the 
bottoms  of  the  valleys  are  more  or  less 
thickly  covered  with  the  nutritious  grass 
which  is  the  favorite  food  of  the  black-tail. 

Of  course,  the  Bad  Lands  grade  all  the 
way  from  those  that  are  almost  rolling  in 
character  to  those  that  are  so  fantastically 
broken  in  form  and  so  bizarre  in  color  as  to 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  241 

seem  hardly  properly  to  belong  to  this  earth. 
If  the  weathering  forces  have  not  been  very 
active,  the  ground  will  look,  from  a  little 
distance,  almost  like  a  level  plain,  but  on 
approaching  nearer,  it  will  be  seen  to  be 
crossed  by  straight-sided  gullies  and  can- 
yons, miles  in  length,  cutting  across  the  land 
in  every  direction  and  rendering  it  almost 
impassable  for  horsemen  or  wagon-teams. 
If  the  forces  at  work  have  been  more  in- 
tense, the  walls  between  the  different  gullies 
have  been  cut  down  to  thin  edges,  or  broken 
through,  leaving  isolated  peaks  of  strange 
shape,  while  the  hollows  have  been  chan- 
nelled out  deeper  and  deeper;  such  places 
show  the  extreme  and  most  characteristic 
Bad  Lands  formation.  When  the  weather- 
ing has  gone  on  further,  the  angles  are 
rounded  off,  grass  begins  to  grow,  bushes 
and  patches  of  small  trees  sprout  up,  water 
is  found  in  places,  and  the  still  very  rugged 
country  becomes  the  favorite  abode  of  the 
black-tail. 

During  the  daytime,  these  deer  lie  quietly 


242  HUNTING  TRIPS 

in  their  beds,  which  are  sometimes  in  the 
brush  and  among  the  matted  bushes  in  the 
bottoms  of  the  small  branching  coulies,  or 
heads  of  the  crooked  ravines.  More  often 
they  will  be  found  in  the  thickets  of  stunted 
cedars  clothing  the  brinks  of  the  canyons  or 
the  precipitous  slopes  of  the  great  chasms 
into  which  the  ground  is  cleft  and  rent;  or 
else  among  the  groves  of  gnarled  pines  on 
the  sides  of  the  buttes,  and  in  the  basins 
and  pockets  between  the  spurs.  If  the  coun- 
try is  not  much  hunted  over,  a  buck  or  old 
doe  will  often  take  its  mid-day  rest  out  in  the 
open,  lying  down  among  the  long  grass  or 
shrubbery  on  one  of  the  bare  benches  at  the 
head  of  a  ravine,  at  the  edge  of  the  dense 
brush  with  which  its  bottom  and  sides  are 
covered.  In  such  a  case,  a  position  is  al- 
ways chosen  from  which  a  look-out  can  be 
kept  all  around ;  and  the  moment  any  sus- 
picious object  is  seen,  the  deer  slips  off  into 
the  thicket  below  him.  Perhaps  the  favor- 
ite resting-places  are  the  rounded  edges  of 
the  gorges,  just  before  the  sides  of  the  lat- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  243 

kr  break  sheer  off.  Here  the  deer  lies, 
usually  among  a  few  straggling  pines  or 
cedars,  on  the  very  edge  of  the  straight  side- 
wall  of  the  canyon,  with  a  steep-shelving 
slope  above  him,  so  that  he  cannot  be  seen 
from  the  summit ;  and  in  such  places  it 
next  to  impossible  to  get  at  him.  If  lying 
on  a  cedar-grown  spur  or  ridge-point,  the 
still-hunter  has  a  better  chance,  for  the 
evergreen  needles  with  which  the  ground  is 
covered  enable  a  man  to  walk  noiselessly, 
and,  by  stooping  or  going  on  all  fours,  he 
can  keep  under  the  branches.  But  it  is  at 
all  times  hard  and  unsatisfactory  work  to 
find  and  successfully  still-hunt  a  deer  that 
is  enjoying  its  day  rest.  Generally,  the 
only  result  is  to  find  the  warm,  fresh  bed 
from  which  the  deer  has  just  sneaked  off, 
the  blades  of  grass  still  slowly  rising,  after 
the  hasty  departure  of  the  weight  that  has 
flattened  them  down;  or  else,  if  in  dense 
cover,  the  hunter  suddenly  hears  a  scram- 
ble, a  couple  of  crashing  bounds  through 
the  twigs  and  dead  limbs,  and  gets  a  mo- 


244  HUNTING  TRIPS 

mentary  glimpse  of  a  dark  outline  vanish- 
ing into  the  thicket  as  the  sole  reward  of 
his  labor.  Almost  the  only  way  to  success- 
fully still-hunt  a  deer  in  the  middle  of  the 
day,  is  to  find  its  trail  and  follow  it  up  to 
the  resting-places,  and  such  a  feat  needs  an 
expert  tracker  and  a  noiseless  and  most 
skilful  stalker. 

The  black-tail  prefers  to  live  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  water,  where  he  can  get  it  every 
twenty- four  hours ;  but  he  is  perfectly  will- 
ing to  drink  only  every  other  day,  if,  as  is 
often  the  case,  he  happens  to  be  in  a  very 
dry  locality.  Nor  does  he  stay  long  in  the 
water  or  near  it,  like  the  white-tail,  but 
moves  off  as  soon  as  he  is  no  longer  thirsty. 
On  moonlight  nights  he  feeds  a  good  deal 
of  the  time,  and  before  dawn  he  is  always 
on  foot  for  his  breakfast ;  the  hours  around 
daybreak  are  those  in  which  most  of  his 
grazing  is  done.  By  the  time  the  sun  has 
been  up  an  hour  he  is  on  his  way  home- 
ward, grazing  as  he  goes ;  and  he  will  often 
stay  for  some  little  time  longer,  if  there  has 


OP  A  RANCHMAN  245 

been  no  disturbance  from  man  or  other 
foes,  feeding  among  the  scattered  scrub 
cedars. skirting  the  thicket  in  which  he  in- 

*i  to  make  his  bed  for  the  day.  Having 
made  his  bed  he  crouches  very  close  in 
it,  and  is  difficult  to  put  up  during  the  heat 
of  the  day ;  but  as  the  afternoon  wears  on 
he  becomes  more  restless,  and  will  break 
from  his  bed  and  bound  off  at  much  smaller 
provocation,  while  if  the  place  is  lonely  he 
will  wander  out  into  the  open  hours  before 
sunset.  If,  however,  he  is  in  much  danger 
of  being  molested,  he  will  keep  close  to  his 
hiding-place  until  nearly  nightfall,  when  he 
ventures  out  to  feed.  Owing  to  the  lau 
of  his  evening  appearance  in  localities 
where  there  is  much  hunting,  it  is  a  safer 
plan  to  follow  him  in  the  early  morning,  be- 
ing on  the  ground  and  ready  to  start  out  by 
the  time  the  first  streak  of  dawn  appears. 

n  I  have  lost  deer  when  riding  home  in 
the  evening,  because  the  dusk  liad  deepened 
so  that  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish 
clearlv  enough  to  shoot. 


246  HUNTING  TRIPS 

One  day  one  of  my  cowboys  and  myself 
were  returning  from  an  unsuccessful  hunt, 
about  nightfall,  and  were  still  several  miles 
from  the  river,  when  a  couple  of  yearling 
black-tails  jumped  up  in  the  bed  of  the  dry 
creek  down  which  we  were  riding.  Our 
horses  though  stout  and  swift  were  not  well 
trained;  and  the  instant  we  were  off  their 
backs  they  trotted  off.  No  sooner  were  we 
on  the  ground  and  trying  to  sight  the  deer, 
one  of  which  was  cantering  slowly  off 
among  the  bushes,  than  we  found  we  could 
not  catch  the  bead  sights  of  our  rifles,  the 
outlines  of  the  animals  seeming  vague,  and 
shadowy,  and  confounding  themselves  with 
the  banks  and  dull  green  sage  bushes  behind 
them.  Certainly  six  or  eight  shots  were 
fired,  we  doing  our  best  to  aim,  but  without 
any  effect;  and  when  we  gave  it  up  and 
turned  to  look  for  our  horses  we  were  an- 
noyed to  see  the  latter  trotting  off  down  the 
valley  half  a  mile  away.  We  went  after  at 
a  round  pace ;  but  darkness  closed  in  before 
.we  had  gained  at  all  on  them.  There  was 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  247 

nothing  left  to  do  but  to  walk  on  down  the 
valley  to  the  bottoms,  and  then  to  wade  the 
river;  as  the  latter  was  quite  high,  we  had 
to  take  off  our  clothes,  and  it  is  very  un- 
comfortable to  feel  one's  way  across  a  river 
at  night,  in  bare  feet,  with  the  gun  and  the 
bundle  of  clothes  held  high  over  head. 
However,  when  across  the  river  and  half  a 
mile  from  home,  we  ran  into  our  horses — a 
piece  of  good  luck,  as  otherwise  we  should 
have  had  to  spend  the  next  day  in  looking 
for  them. 

Almost  the  only  way  in  which  it  is  possi- 
ble to  aim  after  dark  is  to  get  the  object 
against  the  horizon,  toward  the  light.  One 
of  the  finest  bucks  I  ever  killed  was  shot  in 
this  way.  It  was  some  little  time  after  the 
sun  had  set,  and  I  was  hurrying  home,  rid- 
ing down  along  a  winding  creek  at  a  gallop. 
The  middle  of  the  bottom  was  covered  with 
brush,  while  the  steep,  grassy,  rounded  hills 
:ich  side  sent  off  spurs  into  the  valley, 
the  part  between  every  two  spurs  making  a 
deep  pocket.  The  horse's  feet  were  unshod 


248  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  he  made  very  little  noise,  coming  down 
against  the  wind.  While  passing  a  deep 
pocket  I  heard  from  within  it  a  snort  and 
stamping  of  feet,  the  well-known  sounds 
made  by  a  startled  deer.  Pulling  up  short 
I  jumped  off  the  horse — it  was  Manitou, — 
who  instantly  began  feeding  with  perfect 
indifference  to  what  he  probably  regarded 
as  an  irrational  freak  of  his  master;  and, 
aiming  as  well  as  I  could  in  the  gathering 
dusk,  held  the  rifle  well  ahead  of  a  shadowy 
gray  object  which  was  scudding  along  the 
base  of  the  hill  towards  the  mouth  of  the 
pocket.  The  ball  struck  in  front  of  and 
turned  the  deer,  which  then  started  obliquely 
up  the  hill.  A  second  shot  missed  it;  and 
I  then  (here  comes  in  the  good  of  having  a 
repeater)  knelt  down  and  pointed  the  rifle 
against  the  sky  line,  at  the  place  where  the 
deer  seemed  likely  to  top  the  bluff.  Imme- 
diately afterwards  the  buck  appeared,  mak- 
ing the  last  jump  with  a  great  effort  which 
landed  him  square  on  the  edge,  as  sharply 
outlined  as  a  silhouette  against  the  fading 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  249 

western  light.  My  rifle  bead  was  just  above 
him;  pulling  it  down  I  fired,  as  the  buck 
paused  for  a  second  to  recover  himself  from 
his  last  great  bound,  and  with  a  crash  the 
mighty  antlered  beast  came  rolling  down 
the  hill,  the  bullet  having  broken  his  back 
behind  the  shoulders,  afterwards  going  out 
through  his  chest. 

At  times  a  little  caution  must  be  used  in 
approaching  a  wounded  buck,  for  if  it  is  not 
disabled  it  may  be  a  rather  formidable  an- 
tagonist. In  my  own  experience  I  have 
never  known  a  wounded  buck  to  do  more 
than  make  a  pass  with  his  horns,  or,  in 
plunging  when  the  knife  enters  his  throat, 
to  strike  with  his  forefeet.  But  one  of  my 
men  was  regularly  charged  by  a  great  buck, 
which  he  had  wounded,  and  which  was 
brought  to  bay  on  the  ice  by  a  dog.  It 
seemed  to  realize  that  the  dog  was  not  the 
main  antagonist,  and  knocking  him  over 
charged  straight  past  him  at  the  man,  and 
he  latter  had  in  his  haste  not  reloaded 
his  rifle,  he  might  have  been  seriously  in- 


250  HUNTING  TRIPS 

jured  had  it  not  been  for  the  dog,  a  very 
strong  and  plucky  one,  which  caught  the 
buck  by  the  hock  and  threw  him.  The  buck 
got  up  and  again  came  straight  at  his  foe, 
uttering  a  kind  of  grunting  bleat,  and  it 
was  not  till  after  quite  a  scuffle  that  the 
man,  by  the  help  of  the  dog,  got  him  down 
and  thrust  the  knife  in  his  throat.  Twice  I 
have  known  hounds  to  be  killed  by  bucks 
which  they  had  brought  to  bay  in  the  rut- 
ting season.  One  of  these  bucks  was  a  sav- 
age old  fellow  with  great  thick  neck  and 
sharp-pointed  antlers.  He  came  to  bay  in 
a  stream,  under  a  bank  thickly  matted  with 
willows  which  grew  down  into  the  water, 
guarding  his  rear  and  flanks,  while  there 
was  a  small  pool  in  his  front  across  which 
the  hounds  had  to  swim.  Backing  in  among 
the  willows  he  rushed  out  at  every  dog  that 
came  near,  striking  it  under  water  with  his 
forefeet,  and  then  again  retreating  to  his 
fortress.  In  this  way  he  kept  the  whole 
pack  off,  and  so  injured  one  hound  that  he 
had  to  be  killed.  Indeed,  a  full-grown 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  251 

buck  with  antlers  would  be  a  match  for  a 
wolf,  unless  surprised,  and  could  not  im- 
probably beat  off  a  cougar  if  he  received  the 
hitu-r'.s  spring  fairly  on  his  prong  points. 

Bucks  fight  fiercely  among  themselves 
during  the  rutting  season.  At  that  time  the 
black-tail,  unlike  the  white-tail,  is  found  in 
bands,  somewhat  like  those  of  the  elk,  but 
much  smaller,  and  the  bucks  of  each  band 
keep  up  an  incessant  warfare.  A  weak  buck 
promptly  gets  out  of  the  way  if  charged  by 
a  large  one ;  but  when  two  of  equal  strength 
come  together  the  battle  is  well  fought.  In- 
stances occasionally  occur,  of  a  pair  of 
these  duellists  getting  their  horns  firmly  in- 
terlocked and  thus  perishing ;  but  these  in- 
stances are  much  rarer,  owing  to  the  shape 
of  the  antlers,  than  with  the  white-tail,  of 
which  species  I  have  in  my  own  experience 
come  across  two  or  three  sets  of  skulls  held 
together  by  their  interlacing  antlers,  the 
bearers  of  which  had  doubtless  died  owing 
to  their  inability  to  break  away  from  each 
other. 


252  HUNTING  TRIPS 

A  black-tail  buck  is  one  of  the  most  no- 
ble-looking of  all  deer.  His  branching  and 
symmetrically  curved  antlers  are  set  on  a 
small  head,  carried  with  beautiful  poise  by 
the  proud,  massive  neck.  The  body  seems 
almost  too  heavy  for  the  slender  legs,  and 
yet  the  latter  bear  it  as  if  they  were  rods 
of  springing  steel.  Every  movement  is  full 
of  alert,  fiery  life  and  grace,  and  he  steps 
as  lightly  as  though  he  hardly  trod  the 
earth.  The  large,  sensitive  ears  are  thrown 
forward  to  catch  the  slightest  sound;  and 
in  the  buck  they  are  not  too  conspicuous, 
though  they  are  the  only  parts  of  his  frame 
which  to  any  eye  can  be  said  to  take  away 
from  his  beauty.  They  give  the  doe  a  some- 
what mulish  look;  at  a  distance,  the  head 
of  a  doe  peering  out  from  among  twigs 
looks  like  a  great  black  V.  To  me,  how- 
ever, even  in  the  case  of  the  doe,  they  seem 
to  set  off  and  strengthen  by  contrast  the 
delicate,  finely-moulded  look  of  the  head. 
Owing  to  these  ears  the  species  is  called  in 
the  books  the  Mule  Deer,  and  every  now 


OF.  A  RANCHMAN  253 

and  then  a  plainsman  will  speak  of  it  by 
this  title.     I  kit  all  plainsmen  know  it  gen- 

illy,  and  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred 
know  it  only,  as  the  Black-tail  Deer;  and 
as  this  is  the  title  by  which  it  is  known 
among  all  who  hunt  it  or  live  near  it,  it 

>uld  certainly  be  called  by  the  same  name 
in  the  books. 

But  though  so  grand  and  striking  an  ob- 
ject when  startled,  or  whea  excited,  whether 
by  curiosity  or  fear,  love  or  hate,  a  black-tail 
is  nevertheless  often  very  hard  to  make  out 
\\hen  standing  motionless  among  the  trees 
and  brushwood,  or  when  lying  down  among 
the  boulders.  A  raw  hand  at  hunting  has 
no  idea  how  hard  it  is  to  see  a  deer  when  at 
rest  The  color  of  the  hair  is  gray,  almost 
the  same  tint  as  that  of  the  leafless  branches 
and  tree  trunks ;  for  of  course  the  hunting 
season  is  at  its  height  only  when  UK  leaves 

e  fallen.  A  deer  standing  motionless 
looks  black  or  gray,  according  as  the  sun- 
light strikes  it;  but  always  looks  exactly 
the  same  color  as  the  trees  around  it.  It 


254  HUNTING  TRIPS 

generally  stands  or  lies  near  some  tree 
trunks ;  and  the  eye  may  pass  over  it  once 
or  twice  without  recognizing  its  real  na- 
ture. In  the  brush  it  is  still  more  difficult, 
and  there  a  deer's  form  is  often  absolutely 
indistinguishable  from  the  surroundings,  as 
one  peers  through  the  mass  of  interlacing 
limbs  and  twigs.  Once  an  old  hunter  and 
myself  in  walking  along  the  ridge  of  a 
scoria  butte  passed  by  without  seeing  them, 
three  black-tail  lying  among  the  scattered 
boulders  of  volcanic  rock  on  the  hillside, 
not  fifty  yards  from  us.  After  a  little  prac- 
tical experience  a  would-be  hunter  learns 
not  to  expect  deer  always,  or  even  gener- 
ally, to  appear  as  they  do  when  near  by  or 
suddenly  startled;  but  on  the  contrary  to 
keep  a  sharp  look-out  on  every  dull-looking 
red  or  yellow  patch  he  sees  in  a  thicket,  and 
to  closely  examine  any  grayish-looking  ob- 
ject observed  on  the  hillsides,  for  it  is  just 
such  small  patches  or  obscure-looking  ob- 
jects which  are  apt,  if  incautiously  ap- 
proached, to  suddenly  take  to  themselves 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


255 


legs,  and  go  bounding  off  at  a  rate  which 
takes  them  out  of  danger  before  the  aston- 
ished tyro  has  really  waked  up  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  deer.  The  first  lesson  to  be 
learned  in  still-hunting  is  the  knowledge  of 
how  to  tell  what  objects  are  and  what  are 
not  deer ;  and  to  learn  it  is  by  no  means  as 
easy  a  task  as  those  who  have  never  tried 
it  would  think. 

When  he  has  learned  to  see  a  deer,  the 
novice  then  has  to  learn  to  hit  it,  and  this 
again  is  not  the  easy  feat  it  seems.  That 
he  can  do  well  with  a  shot-gun  proves  very 
little  as  to  a  man's  skill  with  the  rifle,  for 
the  latter  carries  but  one  bullet,  and  can 
therefore  hit  in  but  one  place,  while  with  a 
shot-gun,  if  you  hold  a  foot  off  your  mark 
you  will  be  nearly  as  apt  to  hit  as  if  you 
held  plumb  centre.  Nor  does  mere  prac- 
tice at  a  mark  avail,  though  excellent  in  its 
way ;  for  a  deer  is  never  seen  at  a  fixed  and 
ascertained  distance,  nor  is  its  outline  often 
y  and  sharply  defined  as  with  a  target. 
Even  if  a  man  keeps  cool — and  for  the  first 


256  HUNTING  TRIPS 

shot  or  two  he  will  probably  be  flurried — 
he  may  miss  an  absurdly  easy  shot  by 
not  taking  pains.  I  remember  on  one  occa- 
sion missing  two  shots  in  succession  where 
it  seemed  really  impossible  for  a  man  to 
help  hitting.  I  was  out  hunting  on  horse- 
back with  one  of  my  men,  and  on  loping 
round  the  corner  of  a  brushy  valley  came 
suddenly  in  sight  of  a  buck  with  certainly 
more  than  a  dozen  points  on  his  great 
spreading  antlers.  I  jumped  off  my  horse 
instantly,  and  fired  as  he  stood  facing  me 
not  over  forty  yards  off;  fired,  as  I  sup- 
posed, perfectly  coolly,  though  without 
dropping  on  my  knee  as  I  should  have  done. 
The  shot  must  have  gone  high,  for  the 
buck  bounded  away  unharmed,  heedless  of 
a  second  ball;  and  immediately  his  place 
was  taken  by  another,  somewhat  smaller, 
who  sprang  out  of  a  thicket  into  almost  the 
identical  place  where  the  big  buck  had 
stood.  Again  I  fired  and  missed;  again 
the  buck  ran  off,  and  was  shot  at  and  missed 
.while  running — all  four  shots  being  taken 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  257 

within  fifty  yards.  I  clambered  on  to  the 
horse  without  looking  at  my  companion, 
but  too  conscious  of  his  smothered  dis- 
favor; after  riding  a  few  hundred  yards, 
he  said  with  forced  politeness  and  a  vague 
desire  to  offer  some  cheap  consolation,  that 
he  supposed  I  had  done  my  best;  to  \v 
I  responded  with  asperity  that  I'd  be 
damned  if  I  had;  and  we  finished  our  jour- 
ney homeward  in  silence.  A  man  is  likely 
to  overshoot  at  any  distance;  but  at  from 
twenty-five  to  seventy-five  yards  he  is  cer- 
tain to  do  so  if  he  is  at  all  careless. 

Moreover,  besides  not  missing,  a  man 
must  learn  to  hit  his  deer  in  the  right  place ; 
the  first  two  or  three  times  he  shoots  he  will 
probably  see  the  whole  deer  in  the  rifle 
sights,  instead  of  just  the  particular  spot 
ishcs  to  strike;  that  is,  he  will  aim  in 
a  general  way  at  the  deer's  whole  body— 
which  will  probably  result  in  a  wound  not 
disabling  the  animal  in  the  least  for  the 
time,  although  ensuring  its  finally  dying  a 
lingering  and  painful  death.  The  most  in- 


258  HUNTING  TRIPS 

stantaneously  fatal  places  are  the  brain  and 
any  part  of  the  spinal  column;  but  these 
offer  such  small  marks  that  it  is  usually  only 
by  accident  they  are  hit.  The  mark  at 
any  part  of  which  one  can  fire  with  safety 
is  a  patch  about  eight  inches  or  a  foot 
square,  including  the  shoulder-blades, 
lungs,  and  heart.  A  kidney-shot  is  very 
fatal ;  but  a  black-tail  will  go  all  day  with  a 
bullet  through  his  entrails,  and  in  cold 
weather  I  have  known  one  to  run  several 
miles  with  a  portion  of  its  entrails  sticking 
out  of  a  wound  and  frozen  solid.  To  break 
both  shoulders  by  a  shot  as  the  deer  stands 
sideways  to  the  hunter,  brings  the  buck 
down  in  its  tracks;  but  perhaps  the  best 
place  at  which  to  aim  is  the  point  in  the 
body  right  behind  the  shoulder-blade.  On 
receiving  a  bullet  in  this  spot  the  deer  will 
plunge  forward  for  a  jump  or  two,  and  then 
go  some  fifty  yards  in  a  labored  gallop; 
will  then  stop,  sway  unsteadily  on  its  legs  for 
a  second,  and  pitch  forward  on  its  side. 
[When  the  hunter  comes  up  he  will  find  his 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  259 

quarry  stone  dead.  If  the  deer  stands  fac- 
ing the  hunter  it  offers  only  a  narrow  mark, 
but  either  a  throat  or  chest  shot  will  be 

;il. 

• 

Good  shooting  is  especially  necessary 
after  black-tail,  because  it  is  so  very  tena- 
cious of  life ;  much  more  so  than  the  white- 
tail,  or,  in  proportion  to  its  bulk,  than  the 
elk.  For  this  reason  it  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  give  an  immediately  fatal  or  dis- 
abling wound,  or  the  game  will  almost  cer- 
tainly be  lost.  It  is  wonderful  to  see  how 
far  and  how  fast  a  seemingly  crippled  deer 
will  go.  Of  course,  a  properly  trained  dog 
would  be  of  the  greatest  use  in  tracking  and 
bringing  to  bay  wounded  black-tail;  but, 
unless  properly  trained  to  come  in  to  heel, 
a  dog  is  worse  than  useless;  and,  anyhow, 
it  will  be  hard  to  keep  one,  as  long  as  the 
wolf-hunters  strew  the  ground  so  plenti- 
fully with  poisoned  bait.  We  have  had 
several  hunting  dogs  on  our  ranch  at  dif- 
ferent times;  generally  wirehaired  deer- 
hounds,  fox-hounds,  or  greyhounds,  by  no 


260  HUNTING  TRIPS 

means  absolutely  pure  in  blood;  but  they 
all,  sooner  or  later,  succumbed  to  the  effects 
of  eating  poisoned  meat.  Some  of  them 
were  quite  good  hunting  dogs,  tlje  rougli 
deer-hounds  being  perhaps  the  best  at  fol- 
lowing and  tackling  a  wounded  buck.  They 
were  all  very  eager  for  the  sport,  and  when 
in  the  morning  we  started  out  on  a  hunt  the 
dogs  were  apparently  more  interested  than 
the  men;  but  their  judgment  did  not  equal 
their  zeal,  and  lack  of  training  made  them 
on  the  whole  more  bother  than  advantage. 

But  much  more  than  good  shooting  is 
necessary  before  a  man  can  be  called  a  good 
hunter.  Indians,  for  example,  get  a  good 
deal  of  game,  but  they  are  in  most  cases 
very  bad  shots.  Once,  while  going  up  the 
Clear  Fork  of  the  Powder,  in  Northern 
Wyoming,  one  of  my  men,  an  excellent 
hunter,  and  myself  rode  into  a  large  camp 
of  Cheyennes;  and  after  a  while  started  a 
shooting-match  with  some  of  them.  We 
had  several  trials  of  skill  with  the  rifle,  and, 
a  good  deal  to  my  astonishment,  I  found 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  261 

that  most  of  the  Indians  (quite  successful 
hunters,  to  judge  by  the  quantity  of  smoked 
venison  lying  round)  were  very  bad  shots 
indeed.  -None  of  them  came  anywhere  near 
the  hunter  who  was  with  me ;  nor,  indeed, 
to  myself.  An  Indian  gets  his  game  by  his 
patient,  his  stealth,  and  his  tireless  perse- 
verance; and  a  white  to  be  really  success- 
ful in  still-hunting  must  learn  to  copy  some 
of  the  Indian's  traits. 

While  the  game  butchers,  the  skin  hunt- 
ers, and  their  like,  work  such  brutal  slaugh- 
ter among  the  plains  animals  that  these  will 
soon  be  either  totally  extinct  or  so  thinned 
out  as  to  cease  being  prominent  features  of 
plains  life,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  the  na- 
ture of  the  country  debars  them  from  fol- 
lowing certain  murderous  and  unsports- 
manlike forms  of  hunting  much  in  vogue  in 
other  quarters  of  our  land.  There  is  no 
deep  water  into  which  a  deer  can  be  driven 
by  hounds,  and  then  shot  at  arm's-length 
from  a  boat,  as  is  the  fashion  with  some  of 
the  city  sportsmen  who  infest  the  Adiron- 


262  HUNTING  TRIPS 

dack  forests  during  the  hunting  season ;  nor 
is  the  winter  snow  ever  deep  enough  to 
form  a  crust  over  which  a  man  can  go  on 
snow-shoes,  and  after  running  down  a  deer, 
which  plunges  as  if  in  a  quagmire,  knock 
the  poor,  worn-out  brute  on  the  head  with 
an  axe.  Fire-hunting  is  never  tried  in  the 
cattle  country ;  it  would  be  far  more  likely 
to  result  in  the  death  of  a  steer  or  pony  than 
in  the  death  of  a  deer,  if  attempted  on  foot 
with  a  torch,  as  is  done  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States ;  while  the  streams  are  not 
suited  to  the  floating  or  jacking  with  a  lan- 
tern in  the  bow  of  the  canoe,  as  practised  in 
the  Adirondacks.  Floating  and  fire-hunt- 
ing, though  by  no  means  to  be  classed 
among  the  nobler  kinds  of  sport,  yet  have  a 
certain  fascination  of  their  own,  not  so 
much  for  the  sake  of  the  actual  hunting,  as 
for  the  novelty  of  being  out  in  the  wilder- 
ness at  night;  and  the  noiselessness  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  insure  success  often  en- 
ables the  sportsman  to  catch  curious 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  263 

glimpses  of  the  night  life  of  the  different 
kinds  of  wild  animals. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  wolf  poison,  the 
plains  country  would  be  peculiarly  fitted  for 
hunting  with  hounds;  and,  if  properly  car- 
ried on,  there  is  no  manlier  form  of  sport. 
It  does  not  imply  in  the  man  who  follows 
it  the  skill  that  distinguishes  the  success- 
ful still-hunter,  but  it  has  a  dash  and  excite- 
ment all  its  own,  if  the  hunter  follows  the 
hounds  on  horseback.  But,  as  carried  on 
in  the  Adirondack's  and  in  the  Eastern  and 
Southern  mountains  generally,  hounding 
deer  is  not  worthy  of  much  regard.  There 
the  hunter  is  stationed  at  a  runaway  over 
which  deer  will  probably  pass,  and  has 
nothing  to  do  but  sit  still  for  a  number  of 
weary  hours  and  perhaps  put  a  charge  of 
buckshot  into  a  deer  running  by  but  a  few 
yards  off.  If  a  rifle  instead  of  a  shot-gun 
is  used,  a  certain  amount  of  skill  is  neces- 
sary, for  then  it  is  hard  to  hit  a  deer  run- 

no  matter  how  close  up;    but 
with  this  weapon  all  the  sportsman  has  to 


264  HUNTING  TRIPS 

do  is  to  shoot  well;  he  need  not  show 
knowledge  of  a  single  detail  of  hunting 
craft,  nor  need  he  have  any  trait  of  mind  or 
body  such  as  he  must  possess  to  follow  most 
other  kinds  of  the  chase. 

Deer-hanting  on  horseback  is  something 
widely  different.  Even  if  the  hunters  carry 
rifles  and  themselves  kill  the  deer,  using  the 
dogs  merely  to  drive  it  out  of  the  brush, 
they  must  be  bold  and  skilful  horsemen, 
and  must  show  good  judgment  in  riding  to 
cut  off  the  quarry,  so  as  to  be  able  to  get  a 
shot  at  it.  This  is  the  common  American 
method  of  hunting  the  deer  in  those  places 
where  it  is  followed  with  horse  and  hound ; 
but  it  is  also  coursed  with  greyhounds  in 
certain  spots  where  the  lay  of  the  land  per- 
mits this  form  of  sport,  and  in  many  dis- 
tricts, even  where  ordinary  hounds  are 
used,  the  -riders  go  unarmed  and  merely 
follow  the  pack  till  the  deer  is  bayed  and 
pulled  down.  All  kinds  of  hunting  on 
horseback — and  most  hunting  on  horseback 
is  done  with  hounds — tend  to  bring  out  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  265 

best  and  manliest  qualities  in  the  men  who 
low  them,  and  they  should  be  encouraged 
in  every  way.  Long  after  the  rifleman,  as 
well  as  the  game  he  hunts,  shall  have  van- 
ished from  the  plains,  the  cattle  country 
!l  -afFord  fine  sport  in  coursing  hares ;  and 
both  wolves  and  deer  could  be  followed 
and  killed  with  packs  of  properly-trained 
hounds,  and  such  sport  would  be  even  more 
exciting  than  still-hunting  with  the  rifle.  It 
is  on  the  great  plains  lying  west  of  the  Mis- 
souri that  riding  to  hounds  will  in  the  end 
receive  its  fullest  development  as  a  national 
pastime. 

But  at  present,  for  the  reasons  already, 
stated,  it  is  almost  unknown  in  the  cattle 
country;  and  the  ranchman  who  loves 
sport  must  try  still-hunting — and  by  still- 
hunting  is  meant  pretty  much  every  kind 
of  chase  where  a  single  man,  unaided  by  a 
dog,  and  almost  always  on  foot,  outgen- 
erals a  deer  and  kills  it  with  the  rifle.  To 
do  this  successfully,  unless  deer  are  vi 
plenty  and  tame,  implies  a  certain  knowl- 


266  HUNTING  TRIPS 

edge  of  the  country,  and  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  the  habits  of  the  game.  The  hunter 
must  keep  a  sharp  look-out  for  deer  sign; 
for,  though  a  man  soon  gets  to  have  a  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  kind  of  places  in 
which  deer  are  likely  to  be,  yet  he  will  also 
find  that  they  are  either  very  capricious,  or 
else  that  no  man  has  more  than  a  partial 
understanding  of  their  tastes  and  likings; 
for  many  spots  apparently  just  suited  to 
them  will  be  almost  uninhabited,  while  in 
others  they  will  be  found  where  it  would 
hardly  occur  to  any  one  to  suspect  their 
presence.  Any  cause  may  temporarily 
drive  deer  out  of  a  given  locality.  Still- 
hunting,  especially,  is  sure  to  send  many 
away,  while  rendering  the  others  extremely 
wild  and  shy,  and  where  deer  have  become 
used  to  being  pursued  in  only  one  way,  it 
is  often  an  excellent  plan  to  try  some  en- 
tirely different  method. 

A  certain  knowledge  of  how  to  track  deer 
is  very  useful.     To  become  a  really  skilful 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  267 

is  most  difficult;  and  there  are  some 
kinds  of  ground,  where,  for  instance,  it  is 
very  hard  and  dry,  or  frozen  solid,  on  which 
almost  any  man  will  be  at  fault.  But  any 
one  with  a  little  practice  can  learn  to  do  a 
certain  amount  of  tracking.  On  snow,  of 
course,  it  is  very  easy;  but  on  the  other 
hand  it  is  also  peculiarly  difficult  to  a 
being  seen  by  the  deer  when  the  ground  is 
white.  After  deer  have  been  frightened 
once  or  twice,  or  have  even  merely  been 
disturbed  by  man,  they  get  the  habit  of 
keeping  a  watch  back  on  their  trail ;  and 
when  snow  has  fallen,  a  man  is  such  a  con- 
spicuous object  deer  see  him  a  long  way  off, 
and  even  the  tamest  become  wild.  A  deer 
will  often,  before  lying  down,  take  a  half 
circle  back  to  one  side  and  make  its  bed  a 
few  yards  from  its  trail,  where  it  can,  itself 
unseen,  watch  any  person  tracing  it  up.  A 
man  tracking  in  snow  needs  to  pay  very 
little  heed  to  the  footprints,  which  can  be 
followed  without  effort,  but  requires  to 


268  HUNTING  TRIPS 

keep  up  the  closest  scrutiny  over  the  ground 
ahead  of  him,  and  on  either  side  of  the 
trail. 

In  the  early  morning  when  there  is  a  heavy 
dew  the  footprints  will  be  as  plain  as  possible 
in  the  grass,  and  can  then  be  followed  read- 
ily ;  and  in  any  place  where  the  ground  is  at 
all  damp  they  will  usually  be  plain  enough 
to  be  made  out  without  difficulty.  When  the 
ground  is  hard  or  dry  the  work  is  very  much 
less  easy,  and  soon  becomes  so  difficult  as  not 
to  be  worth  while  following  up.  Indeed,  at 
all  times,  even  in  the  snow,  tracks  are  chiefly 
of  use  to  show  the  probable  locality  in  which 
a  deer  may  be  found;  and  the  still-hunter 
instead  of  laboriously  walking  along  a  trail 
will  do  far  better  to  merely  follow  it  until, 
from  its  freshness  and  direction,  he  feels  con- 
fident that  the  deer  is  in  some  particular 
space  of  ground,  and  then  hunt  through  it, 
guiding  himself  by  his  knowledge  of  the 
deer's  habits  and  by  the  character  of  the 
land.  Tracks  are  of  most  use  in  showing 
whether  deer  are  plenty  or  scarce,  whether 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  269 

they  have  been  in  the  place  recently  or  not. 
Generally,  signs  of  deer  are  infinitely  more 
plentiful  than  the  animals  themselves — al- 
though in  regions  where  tracking  is  es- 
pecially difficult  deer  are  often  jumped  with- 
out any  sign  having  been  seen  at  all.  Usu- 
ally, however,  the  rule  is  the  reverse,  and  as 
deer  are  likely  to  make  any  quantity  of  tracks 
the  beginner  is  apt,  judging  purely  from  the 
sign,  greatly  to  over-estimate  their  number. 
Another  mistake  of  the  beginner  is  to  look 
for  the  deer  during  the  daytime  in  the  places 
where  their  tracks  were  made  in  the  morn- 
ing, when  their  day  beds  will  probably  be 
a  long  distance  off.  In  the  night-time  deer 
will  lie  down  almost  anywhere,  but  during 
the  day  they  go  some  distance  from  their 
feeding-  or  watering-places,  as  already  ex- 
plained. 

If  deer  are  at  all  plenty — and  if  scarce  only 
a  master  in  the  art  can  succeed  at  still-hunt- 
ing— it  is  best  not  to  try  to  follow  the  tracks 
at  all,  but  merely  to  hunt  carefully  through 
any  ground  which  from  its  looks  seems  likely 


270 


HUNTING  TRIPS 


to  contain  the  animals.  Of  course  the  hunt- 
ing must  be  done  either  against  or  across  the 
wind,  and  the  greatest  care  must  be  taken 
to  avoid  making  a  noise.  Moccasins  should 
be  worn,  and  not  a  twig  should  be  trodden 
on,  nor  should  the  dress  be  allowed  to  catch 
in  a  brush.  Especial  caution  should  be  used 
in  going  over  a  ridge  or  crest ;  no  man  should 
ever  let  his  whole  body  appear  at  once,  but 
should  first  carefully  peep  over,  not  letting 
his  rifle  barrel  come  into  view,  and  closely 
inspect  every  place  in  sight  in  which  a  deer 
could  possibly  stand  or  lie,  always  remem- 
bering that  a  deer  is  when  still  a  most  dif- 
ficult animal  to  see,  and  that  it  will  be  com- 
pletely hidden  in  cover  which  would  appar- 
ently hardly  hold  a  rabbit.  The  rifle  should 
be  carried  habitually  so  that  the  sun  will  not 
glance  upon  it.  Advantage  must  be  taken, 
in  walking,  of  all  cover,  so  that  the  hunter 
will  not  be  a  conspicuous  object  at  any  dis- 
tance. The  heads  of  a  series  of  brushy  ra- 
vines should  always  be  crossed;  and  a  nar- 
row, winding  valley,  with  patches  of  bushes 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  271 

and  young  trees  down  through  the  middle, 
is  always  a  likely  place.  Caution  should 
never  for  a  moment  be  forgotten,  especially 
in  the  morning  or  evening,  the  times  when 
a  hunter  will  get  nine  tenths  of  his  shots; 
for  it  is  just  then,  when  moving  and  feed- 
ing, that  deer  are  most  watchful.  One  will 
never  browse  for  more  than  a  minute  or  two 
without  raising  its  head  and  peering  about 
for  any  possible  foe,  the  great,  sensitive  ears 
thrown  forward  to  catch  the  slightest  sound. 
But  while  using  such  caution  it  is  also  well  to 
remember  that  as  much  ground  should  be 
crossed  as  possible ;  other  things  being  equal, 
the  number  of  shots  obtained  will  correspond 
to  the  amount  of  country  covered.  And  of 
course  a  man  should  be  on  the  hunting 
ground — not  starting  for  the  hunting  ground 
— by  the  time  there  is  enough  light  by  which 
to  shoot. 

Deer  are  in  season  for  hunting  from  Au- 
gust first  to  January  first.  August  is  really 
too  early  to  get  full  enjoyment  out  of  the 
sport.  The  bucks,  though  fat  and  good  eat- 


272  HUNTING  TRIPS 

ing,  are  still  in  the  velvet;  and  neither  does 
nor  fawns  should  be  killed,  as  many  of  the 
latter  are  in  the  spotted  coat.  Besides  it  is 
very  hot  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  though 
pleasant  walking  in  the  early  morning  and 
late  evening,  and  with  cool  nights.  Decem- 
ber is  apt  to  be  too  cold,  although  with 
many  fine  days.  The  true  time  for  the  chase 
of  the  black-tail  is  in  the  three  fall  months. 
Then  the  air  is  fresh  and  bracing,  and  a  man 
feels  as  if  he  could  walk  or  ride  all  day  long 
without  tiring.  In  the  bright  fall  weather 
the  country  no  longer  keeps  its  ordinary  look 
of  parched  desolation,  and  the  landscape 
loses  its  sameness  at  the  touch  of  the  frost. 
Where  everything  before  had  been  gray  or 
dull  green  there  are  now  patches  of  russet 
red  and  bright  yellow.  The  clumps  of  ash, 
wild  plum-trees,  and  rose-bushes  in  the  heads 
and  bottoms  of  the  sloping  valleys  become 
spots  of  color  that  glow  among  the  stretches 
of  brown  and  withered  grass ;  the  young  cot- 
ton-woods, growing  on  the  points  of  land 
round  which  flow  the  rivers  and  streams, 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  373 

change  to  a  delicate  green  or  yellow,  on 
which  the  eye  rests  \vith  pleasure  after  hav- 

g  so  long  seen  only  the  dull  drab  of  the 

•s.  Often  there  will  be  days  of  1 
ter  cold,  when  a  man  who  sleeps  out  in  the 
open  feels  the  need  of  warm  furs;  but  still 
more  often  there  will  be  days  and  days  of 
sunny  weather,  not  cold  enough  to  bring  dis- 
comfort, but  yet  so  cool  that  the  blood  leaps 
briskly  through  a  man's  veins  and  makes  him 
feel  that  to  be  out  and  walking  over  the  hills 
is  a  pleasure  in  itself,  even  were  he  not  in 
hopes  of  any  moment  seeing  the  sun  glint 
on  the  horns  and  hide  of  some  mighty  buck, 
as  it  rises  to  face  the  intruder.  On  days  such 
as  these,  mere  life  is  enjoyment ;  and  on  days 
such  as  these,  the  life  of  a  hunter  is  at  its 
pleasantest  and  best. 

Many  black-tail  are  sometimes  killed  in  a 
day.  I  have  never  made  big  bags  myself,  for 
I  rarely  hunt  except  for  a  fine  head  or  when 
we  need  meat,  and  if  it  can  be  avoided  do 
not  shoot  at  fawns  or  does;  so  the  greatest 
number  I  have  ever  killed  in  a  day  was  three. 


274 


HUNTING  TRIPS 


This  was  late  one  November,  on  an  occa- 
sion when  our  larder  was  running  low.  My 
foreman  and  I,  upon  discovering  this  fact, 
determined  to  make  a  trip  next  day  back  in 
the  broken  country,  away  from  the  river, 
where  black-tail  were  almost  sure  to  be 
found. 

We  breakfasted  hours  before  sunrise,  and 
then  mounted  our  horses  and  rode  up  the 
river  bottom.  The  bright  prairie  moon  was 
at  the  full,  and  was  sunk  in  the  west  till  it 
hung  like  a  globe  of  white  fire  over  the  long 
row  of  jagged  bluffs  that  rose  from  across 
the  river,  while  its  beams  brought  into  fan- 
tastic relief  the  peaks  and  crests  of  the  buttes 
upon  our  left.  The  valley  of  the  river  it- 
self was  in  partial  darkness,  and  the  stiff, 
twisted  branches  of  the  sage-brush  seemed 
to  take  on  uncanny  shapes  as  they  stood  in 
the  hollows.  The  cold  was  stinging,  and  we 
let  our  willing  horses  gallop  with  loose  reins, 
their  hoofs  ringing  on  the  frozen  ground. 
After  going  up  a  mile  or  two  along  the 
course  of  the  river  we  turned  off  to  follow 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  275 

the  bed  of  a  large  dry  creek.  At  its  mouth 
was  a  great  space  of  ground  much  cut  up 
by  the  hoofs  of  the  cattle,  which  was  in  sum- 
mer overflowed  and  almost  a  morass;  but 
now  the  frost-bound  earth  was  like  wrinkled 
iron  beneath  the  horses'  feet.  Behind  us 
the  westering  moon  sank  down  out  of  sight ; 
and  with  no  light  but  that  of  the  stars,  we 
let  our  horses  thread  their  own  way  up  the 
creek  bottom.  When  we  had  gone  a  couple 
of  miles  from  the  river  the  sky  in  front  of 
our  faces  took  on  a  faint  grayish  tinge,  the 
forerunner  of  dawn.  Every  now  and  then 
we  passed  by  bunches  of  cattle,  lying  down 
or  standing  huddled  together  in  the  patches 
of  brush  or  under  the  lee  of  some  shelving 
bank  or  other  wind-break ;  and  as  the  east- 
ern heavens  grew  brighter,  a  dark  form  sud- 
denly appeared  against  the  sky-line,  on  the 
crest  of  a  bluff  directly  ahead  of  us.  An- 
other and  another  came  up  beside  it.  A 
glance  told  us  that  it  was  a  troop  of  ponies, 
which  stood  motionless,  like  so  many  sil- 
houettes, their  outstretched  necks  and  long 


276  HUNTING  TRIPS 

tails  vividly  outlined  against  the  light  be- 
hind them.  All  in  the  valley  was  yet  dark 
when  we  reached  the  place  where  the  creek 
began  to  split  up  and  branch  out  into  the 
various  arms  and  ravines  from  which  it 
headed.  We  galloped  smartly  over  the  di- 
vide into  a  set  of  coulies  and  valleys  which 
ran  into  a  different  creek,  and  selected  a 
grassy  place  where  there  was  good  feed  to 
leave  the  horses.  My  companion  picketed 
his ;  Manitou  needed  no  picketing. 

The  tops  of  the  hills  were  growing  rosy, 
but  the  sun  was  not  yet  above  the  horizon 
when  we  started  off,  with  our  rifles  on  our 
shoulders,  walking  in  cautious  silence,  for  we 
were  in  good  ground  and  might  at  any  mo- 
ment see  a  deer.  Above  us  was  a  plateau  of 
some  size,  breaking  off  sharply  at  the  rim 
into  a  surrounding  stretch  of  very  rough  and 
rugged  country.  It  sent  off  low  spurs  with 
notched  crests  into  the  valleys  round  about, 
and  its  edges  were  indented  with  steep  ra- 
vines and  half-circular  basins,  their  sides  cov- 
ered with  clusters  of  gnarled  and  wind- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  277 

beaten  cedars,  often  gathered  into  groves  of 
some  size.  The  ground  was  so  broken  as  to 
give  excellent  cover  under  which  a  man  could 
approach  game  unseen  >  there  were  plenty  of 
fresh  signs  of  deer;  and  we  were  confident 
we  should  soon  get  a  shot  Keeping  at  the 
bottom  of  the  gullies,  so  as  to  be  ourselves 
inconspicuous,  we  walked  noiselessly  on, 
cautiously  examining  every  pocket  or  turn 
before  we  rounded  the  corner,  and  looking 
with  special  care  along  the  edges  of  the 
patches  of  brush. 

At  last,  just  as  the  sun  had  risen,  we  came 
out  by  the  mouth  of  a  deep  ravine  or  hol- 
low, cut  in  the  flank  of  the  plateau, 
steep,  cedar-clad  sides;  and  on  the  crest  of 
a  jutting  spur,  not  more  than  thirty  yards 
from  where  I  stood,  was  a  black-tail  doe, 
half  facing  me.  I  was  in  the  shadow,  and 
for  a  moment  she  could  not  make  me  out, 
and  stood  motionless  with  her  head  turned 
toward  me  and  her  great  ears  thrown  for- 
ward. Dropping  on  my  knee,  I  held  the  rifle 
a  little  back  of  her  shoulder — too  far  back, 


278  HUNTING  TRIPS 

as  it  proved,  as  she  stood  quartering  and  not 
broadside  to  me.  No  fairer  chance  could 
ever  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  hunter ;  but,  to  my 
intense  chagrin,  she  bounded  off  at  the  re- 
port as  if  unhurt,  disappearing  instantly. 
My  companion  had  now  come  up,  and  we 
ran  up  a  rise  of  ground,  and  crouched  down 
beside  a  great  block  of  sandstone,  in  a  posi- 
tion from  which  we  overlooked  the  whole 
ravine  or  hollow.  After  some  minutes  of 
quiet  watchfulness,  we  heard  a  twig  snap — 
the  air  was  so  still  we  could  hear  any  thing 
— some  rods  up  the  ravine,  but  below  us ;  and 
immediately  afterward  a  buck  stole  out  of  the 
cedars.  Both  of  us  fired  at  once,  and  with  a 
convulsive  spring  he  rolled  over  backward, 
one  bullet  having  gone  through  his  neck,  and 
the  other — probably  mine — having  broken  a 
hind  leg.  Immediately  afterward,  another 
buck  broke  from  the  upper  edge  of  the  cover, 
near  the  top  of  the  plateau,  and,  though  I 
took  a  hurried  shot  at  him,  bounded  over  the 
crest,  and  was  lost  to  sight. 

We  now  determined  to  go  down  into  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  279 

ravine  and  look  for  the  doe,  and  as  there  was 
a  good  deal  of  snow  in  the  bottom  and  under 
the  trees,  we  knew  we  could  soon  tell  if  she 
were  wounded.  After  a  little  search  we 
found  her  track,  and  walking  along  it  a  few 

rds,  came  upon  some  drops  and  then  a 
splash  of  blood.  There  being  no  need  to 
hurry,  we  first  dressed  the  dead  buck — a  fine, 
fat  fellow,  but  with  small  misshapen  horns, 
— and  then  took  up  the  trail  of  the  wounded 
doe.  Here,  however,  I  again  committed  an 
error,  and  paid  too  much  heed  to  the  trail 
and  too  little  to  the  country  round  about; 
and  while  following  it  with  my  eyes  down 
on  the  ground  in  a  place  where  it  was  faint, 
the  doe  got  up  some  distance  ahead  and  to 
one  side  of  me,  and  bounded  off  round  a 
corner  of  the  ravine.  The  bed  where  she  had 
lain  was  not  very  bloody,  but  from  the  fact  of 
her  having  stopped  so  soon,  I  was  sure  she 

s  badly  wounded.  However,  after  she  got 
out  of  the  snow  the  ground  was  as  hard  as 
flint,  and  it  was  impossible  to  track  her; 
the  valley  soon  took  a  turn,  and  branched 


28o  HUNTING  TRIPS 

into  a  tangle  of  coulies  and  ravines.  I 
deemed  it  probable  that  she  would  not  go  up 
hill,  but  would  run  down  the  course  of  the 
main  valley ;  but  as  it  was  so  uncertain,  we 
thought  it  would  pay  us  best  to  look  for  a 
new  deer. 

Our  luck,  however,  seemed — very  deserv- 
edly— to  have  ended.  We  tramped  on,  as 
swiftly  as  was  compatible  with  quiet,  for 
hour  after  hour ;  beating  through  the  valleys 
against  the  wind,  and  crossing  the  brushy 
heads  of  the  ravines,  sometimes  dose  to- 
gether, and  sometimes  keeping  about  a  hun- 
dred yards  apant,  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  ground.  When  we  had  searched 
all  through  the  country  round  the  head 
of  the  creek,  into  which  we  had  come 
down,  we  walked  over  to  the  next, 
and  went  over  it  with  equal  care  and 
patience.  The  morning  was  now  well  ad- 
vanced, and  we  had  to  change  our  method  of 
hunting.  It  was  no  longer  likely  that  we 
should  find  the  deer  feeding  or  in  the  open, 
and  instead  we  looked  for  places  where  they 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  281 

might  be  expected  to  bed,  following  any  trails 
that  led  into  thick  patches  of  brush  or  young 
trees,  one  of  us  then  hunting  through  the 
patch  while  the  other  kept  watch  without 
Doubtless  we  must  have  passed  close  to  more 
than  one  deer,  and  doubtless  others  heard 
us  and  skulked  off  through  the  thick  cover; 
but,  although  we  saw  plenty  of  signs,  we 
saw  neither  hoof  nor  hair  of  living  thing. 
It  is  under  such  circumstances  that  a  still- 
hunter  needs  to  show  resolution,  and  to  per- 
severe until  his  luck  turns — this  being  a 
euphemistic  way  of  saying,  until  he  ceases  to 
commit  the  various  blunders  which  alarm  the 
deer  and  make  them  get  out  of  the  way. 
Plenty  of  good  shots  become  disgusted  if 
they  do  not  see  a  deer  early  in  the  morning, 
and  go  home ;  still  more,  if  they  do  not  see 
one  in  two  or  three  days.  Others  will  go 
on  hunting,  but  become  careless,  stumble  and 
P  on  dried  sticks,  and  let  their  eyes  fall 
to  the  ground.  It  is  a  good  test  of  a  man's 
resolution  to  see  if,  at  the  end  of  a  long  and 
unsuccessful  tramp  after  deer,  he  moves  just 


282  HUNTING  TRIPS 

as  carefully,  and  keeps  just  as  sharp  a  look- 
out as  he  did  at  the  beginning.  If  he  does 
this,  and  exercises  a  little  common-sense — 
in  still-hunting,  as  in  every  thing  else,  com- 
mon-sense is  the  most  necessary  of  qualities, 
— he  may  be  sure  that  his  reward  will  come 
some  day;  and  when  it  does  come,  he  feels 
a  gratification  that  only  his  fellow-sportsmen 
can  understand. 

We  lunched  at  the  foot  of  a  great  clay 
butte,  where  there  was  a  bed  of  snow.  •  Fall 
or  winter  hunting  in  the  Bad  Lands  has  one 
great  advantage:  the  hunter  is  not  annoyed 
by  thirst  as  he  is  almost  sure  to  be  if  walk- 
ing for  long  hours  under  the  blazing  sum- 
mer sun.  If  he  gets  very  thirsty,  a  mouth- 
ful or  two  of  snow  from  some  hollow  will 
moisten  his  lips  and  throat;  and  anyhow 
thirstiness  is  largely  a  mere  matter  of  habit. 
For  lunch,  the  best  thing  a  hunter  can  carry 
is  dried  or  smoked  venison,  with  not  too 
much  salt  in  it.  It  is  much  better  than 
bread,  and  not  nearly  so  dry ;  and  it  is  easier 
to  carry,  as  a  couple  of  pieces  can  be  thrust 


OF  'A  RANCHMAN  283 

into  the  bosom  of  the  hunting-shirt  or  the 
pocket,  or  in  fact  anywhere;  and  for  keep- 
in-  up  a  man's  strength  there  is  nothing  that 
comes  up  to  it. 

After  lunch  we  hunted  until  the  shadows 
began  to  lengthen  out,  when  we  went  back 
to  our  horses.  The  buck  was  packed  behind 
good  old  Manitou,  who  can  carry  any 
amount  of  weight  at  a  smart  pace,  and  does 
not  care  at  all  if  a  strap  breaks  and  he  finds 
his  load  dangling  about  his  feet,  an  event 
that  reduces  most  horses  to  a  state  of  fran- 
tic terror.  As  soon  as  loaded  we  rode  down 
the  valley  into  which  the  doe  had  disappeared 
in  the  morning,  one  taking  each  side  and 
looking  into  every  possible  lurking  place. 
The  odds  were  all  against  our  finding  any 
trace  of  her;  but  a  hunter  soon  learns  that 
he  must  take  advantage  of  every  chance, 
however  slight.  This  time  we  were  rewarded 
for  our  care;  for  after  riding  about  a  mile 
our  attention  was  attracted  by  a  white  patch 
in  a  clump  of  low  briars.  On  getting  off 
in  it  proved  to  be  the  white  rump 


284  HUNTING  TRIPS 

of  the  doe,  which  lay  stretched  out  inside, 
stark  and  stiff.  The  ball  had  gone  in  too 
far  aft  and  had  come  out  on  the  opposite 
side  near  her  hip,  making  a  mortal  wound, 
but  one  which  allowed  her  to  run  over  a 
mile  before  dying.  It  was  little  more  than 
an  accident  that  we  in  the  end  got  her ;  and 
my  so  nearly  missing  at  such  short  range 
was  due  purely  to  carelessness  and  bad  judg- 
ment. I  had  killed  too  many  deer  to  be  at 
all  nervous  over  them,  and  was  as  cool  with 
a  buck  as  with  a  rabbit;  but  as  she  was  so 
close  I  made  the  common  mistake  of  being 
too  much  in  a  hurry,  and  did  not  wait  to  see 
that  she  was  standing  quartering  to  me  and 
that  consequently  I  should  aim  at  the  point 
of  the  shoulder.  As  a  result  the  deer  was 
nearly  lost. 

Neither  of  my  shots  had  so  far  done  me 
much  credit;  but  at  any  rate  I  had  learned 
where  the  error  lay,  and  this  is  going  a  long 
way  toward  correcting  it.  I  kept  wishing  that 
I  could  get  another  chance  to  see  if  I  had  not 
profited  by  my  lessons;  and  before  we 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  285 

reached  home  i  h  was  gratified.     We 

were  loping  down  a  grassy    valley,    d 
with    clumps    of    brush,  the  wind  blowing 
strong  in  our  faces,  and  deadening  the  noise 

c  by  the  hoofs  on  the  grass, 
passed  by  a  piece  of  broken  ground  a  year- 
ling black-tail  buck  jumped  into  view  and 
cantered  away.  I  was  off  Manitou's  back 
in  an  instant.  The  buck  was  moving  slowly, 
and  was  evidently  soon  going  to  stop  and 
look  round,  so  I  dropped  on  one  knee,  with 

rifle  half  raised,    and    waited.     When 
about  si  rds  off  he  halted  and  turned 

>  to  me,  offering  a  beautiful  broad- 
side shot.  I  aimed  at  the  spot  just  behind 
the  shoulder  and  felt  I  had  him.  At  the 
report  he  went  off,  but  with  short,  weak 
bounds,  and  I  knew  he  would  not  go  far; 
nor  did  he,  but  stopped  short,  swayed  un- 
steadily about,  and  went  over  on  his  side, 
dead,  the  bullet  clean  through  his  body. 

Each  of  us  already  had  a  deer  behind  his 
saddle,  so  we  could  not  take  the  last  buck 
along  with  us.  Accordingly  v  ^ed  him. 


286  HUNTING  TRIPS 

and  hung  him  up  by  the  heels  to  a  branch 
of  a  tree,  piling  the  brush  around  as  if  build- 
ing a  slight  pen  or  trap,  to  keep  off  the  coy- 
otes; who,  anyhow,  are  not  apt  to  harm 
game  that  is  hanging  up,  their  caution  seem- 
ing to  make  them  fear  that  it  will  not  be  safe 
to  do  so.  In  such  cold  weather  a  deer  hung 
up  in  this  way  will  keep  an  indefinite  length 
of  time ;  and  the  carcass  was  all  right  when 
a  week  or  two  afterwards  we  sent  out  the 
buck-board  to  bring  it  back. 

A  stout  buck-board  is  very  useful  on  a 
ranch,  where  men  are  continually  taking 
short  trips  on  which  they  do  not  wish  to  be 
encumbered  by  the  heavy  ranch  wagon. 
Pack  ponies  are  always  a  nuisance,  though 
of  course  an  inevitable  one  in  making  jour- 
neys through  mountains  or  forests.  But  on 
the  plains  a  buck-board  is  far  more  handy. 
The  blankets  and  provisions  can  be  loaded 
upon  it,  and  it  can  then  be  given  a  definite 
course  to  travel  or  point  to  reach ;  ancT  mean- 
while the  hunters,  without  having  their  horses 
tired  by  carrying  heavy  packs,  can  strike  off 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  287 

and  hunt  wherever  they  wish.     There  is  little 
or  no  difficulty  in  going  over  the  prairie,  but 
it  needs  a  skilful  plainsman,  as  well  as  a  good 
ister,  to  take  a  wagon  through  the  Bad 
Lands.    There  are  but  two  courses  to  follow. 
One  is  to  go  along  the  bottoms  of  the  val- 
:  the  other  is  to  go  along  the  tops  of  the 
les.    The  latter  is  generally  the  best ;  for 
each  valley  usually  has  at  its  bottom  a  deep 
winding    ditch    with    perpendicular    banks, 
which  wanders  first  to  one  side  and  then  to 
the  other,  and  has  to  be  crossed  again  and 
again,  while  a  little  way  from  it  begin  the 
gullies  and  gulches  which  come  down  from 
the  side  hills.     It  is  no  easy  matter  to  tell 
h  is  the  main  divide,  as  it  curves  and 
:s  about,  and  is  all  the  time  splitting  up 
into  lesser  ones,  which  merely  separate  two 
branches  of  the  same  creek.     If  the  team- 
ster does  not  know  the  lay  of  the  land  he 
will  be  likely  to  find  himself  in  a  cul-de-sac, 
from  which  he  can  only  escape  by  going 

a  mile  or  two  and  striking  out  af: 
In  very  difficult  country  the  horsemen  must 


288  HUNTING  TRIPS 

be  on  hand  to  help  the  team  pull  up  the  steep 
places.  Many  horses  that  will  not  pull  a 
pound  in  harness  will  haul  for  all  there  is 
in  them  from  the  saddle ;  Manitou  is  a  case  in 
point.  Often  obstacles  will  be  encountered 
across  which  it  is  simply  impossible  for  any 
team  to  drag  a  loaded  or  even  an  empty 
wagon.  Such  are  steep  canyons,  or  muddy- 
bottomed  streams  with  sheer  banks,  especially 
if  the  latter  have  rotten  edges.  The  horses 
must  then  be  crossed  first  and  the  wagon 
dragged  over  afterward  by  the  aid  of  long 
ropes.  Often  it  may  be  needful  to  build  a 
kind  of  rude  bridge  or  causeway  on  which 
to  get  the  animals  over;  and  if  the  canyon 
Is  very  deep  the  wagon  may  have  to  be  taken 
in  pieces,  let  down  one  side,  and  hauled  up 
the  other.  An  immense  amount  of  labor  may 
be  required  to  get  over  a  very  trifling  dis- 
tance. Pack  animals,  however,  can  go  al- 
most anywhere  that  a  man  can. 

Although  still-hunting  on  foot,  as  de- 
scribed above,  is  on  the  whole  the  best  way 
to  get  deer,  yet  there  are  many  places  where 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  289 

from  the  nature  of  the  land  the  sport  can  be 
followed  quite  a  on  horseback,  than 

which  there  is  no  more  pleasant  kind  of 
hunting.  The  best  shot  I  ever  made  in 
life — a  shot  into  which,  however,  I  am  afraid 
the  element  of  chance  entered  much  more 
largely  than  the  element  of  skill — was  made 
while  hunting  black-tail  on  horseback. 

\Ve  were  at  that  time  making  quite  a  long 
trip  with  the  wagon,  and  were  going  up  the 
fork  of  a  plains  river  in  Western  Montana. 
As  we  were  out  of  food,  those  two  of  our 
number  who  usually  undertook  to  keep  the 
camp  supplied  with  game  determined  to 
make  a  hunt  of?  back  of  the  river  after  black- 
tail ;  for  though  there  were  some  white-tail 
in  the  more  densely  timbered  river  bottoms, 
we  had  been  unable  to  get  any.  It  was  ar- 
ranged that  the  wagon  should  go  on  a  few 
miles,  and  then  halt  for  the  night,  as  it  was 
already  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  when  we 
started  out.  The  country  resembled  in  char- 
r  other  parts  of  the  cattle  plains,  hut  it 
was  absoh  re  of  trees  except  along  the 


290 


HUNTING  TRIPS 


bed  of  the  river.  The  rolling  hills  sloped 
steeply  off  into  long  valleys  and  deep  ravines. 
They  were  sparsely  covered  with  coarse 
grass,  and  also  with  an  irregular  growth  of 
tall  sage-brush,  which  in  some  places 
gathered  into  dense  thickets.  A  beginner 
would  have  thought  the  country  entirely  too 
barren  of  cover  to  hold  deer,  but  a  very  little 
experience  teaches  one  that  deer  will  be 
found  in  thickets  of  such  short  and  sparse 
growth  that  it  seems  as  if  they  could  hide 
nothing;  and,  what  is  more,  that  they  will 
often  skulk  round  in  such  thickets  without 
being  discovered.  And  a  black-tail  is  a  bold, 
free  animal,  liking  to  go  out  in  comparatively 
open  country,  where  he  must  trust  to  his 
own  powers,  and  not  to  any  concealment,  to 
protect  him  from  danger. 

\Yhere  the  hilly  country  joined  the  allu- 
vial river  bottom,  it  broke  off  short  into  steep 
bluffs,  up  which  none  but  a  Western  pony 
could  have  climbed.  It  is  really  wonderful 
to  see  what  places  a  pony  can  get  over,  and 
the  indifference  with  which  it  regards  turn- 


OF  A  RANCHMAN          291 

bles.  In  getting  up  from  the  bottom  we 
into  a  wash-out,  and  then  led  our  ponies 
along  a  clay  ledge,  from  which  we  turned  off 
and  went  straight  up  a  very  steep  sandy  bluff. 
My  companion  was  ahead ;  just  as  he  turned 
off  the  ledge,  and  as  I  was  right  underneath 
him,  his  horse,  in  plunging  to  try  to  gt 
the  sand  bluff,  overbalanced  itself,  and, 
after  standing  erect  on  its  hind  legs  for  a 
second,  came  over  backward.  The  second's 
pause  while  it  stood  bolt  upright,  gave  me 
time  to  make  a  frantic  leap  out  of  the  way 
with  my  pony,  which  scrambled  after  me, 
and  we  both  clung  with  hands  and  hoofs  to 
the  side  of  the  bank,  while  the  other  horse 
took  two  as  complete  somersaults  as  I  ever 

and  landed  with  a  crash  at  the  bottom 
of  the  wash-out,  feet  uppermost.    I  thought 

is  done  for,  but  not  a  bit.  After  a  mo- 
ment or  two  it  struggled  to  its  legs,  shook 
itself,  and  looked  round  in  rather  a  shame- 
faced way,  apparently  not  in  the  least  the 
worse  for  the  fall.  We  now  got  my  pony 
up  to  the  top  by  vigorous  pulling,  and  then 


292  HUNTING  TRIPS 

went  down  for  the  other,  which  at  first 
strongly  objected  to  making  another  trial, 
but,  after  much  coaxing  and  a  good  deal  of 
abuse,  took  a  start  and  went  up  without 
trouble. 

For  some  time  after  reaching  the  top  of 
the  bluffs  we  rode  along  without  seeing  any 
thing.  When  it  was  possible,  we  kept  one  on 
each  side  of  a  creek,  avoiding  the  tops  of 
the  ridges,  because  while  on  them  a  horse- 
man can  be  seen  at  a  very  long  distance,  and 
going  with  particular  caution  whenever  we 
went  round  a  spur  or  came  up  over  a  crest. 
The  country  stretched  away  like  an  endless, 
billowy  sea  of  dull-brown  soil  and  barren 
sage-brush,  the  valleys  making  long  parallel 
furrows,  and  every  thing  having  a  look  of 
dreary  sameness.  At  length,  as  we  came  out 
on  a  rounded  ridge,  three  black-tail  bucks 
started  up  from  a  lot  of  sage-brush  some  two 
hundred  yards  away  and  below  us,  and  made 
off  down  hill.  It  was  a  very  long  shot,  es- 
pecially to  try  running,  but,  as  game  seemed 
scarce  and  cartridges  were  plenty,  I  leaped 


OF  A  RANCHMAN 


293 


off  the  horse,  and,  kneeling,  fired.  The  bul- 
-vent  low,  striking  in  line  at  the  feet  o£ 
the  hindmost.  I  was  very  high  next  time, 
making  a  wild  shot  above  and  ahead  of  them, 
which  had  the  effect  of  turning  them,  and 
they  went  off  round  a  shoulder  of  a  bluff, 
being  by  this  time  down  in  the  valley.  Hav- 
ing plenty  of  time  I  elevated  the  sights  (a 
tiling  I  hardly  ever  do)  to  four  hundred 
yards  and  waited  for  their  reappearance. 
Meanwhile  they  had  evidently  gotten  over 
their  fright,  for  pretty  soon  one  walked  out 
from  the  other  side  of  the  bluff,  and  came 
to  a  standstill,  broadside  toward  me.  He 
too  far  off  for  me  to  see  his  horns.  As 
I  was  r;  the  rifle  'another  steppted  out 

and  began  to  walk  towards  the  first.  I 
thought  I  miffht  as  well  have  as  much  of  a 
t  as  possible  to  shoot  at,  and  waited  for 
the  second  buck  to  come  out  farther,  which 
he  did  immediately  and  stood  still  just  along- 
side of  the  first.  I  aimed  above  his  shoulders 
and  pulled  the  trigger  r  went  the  two 

bucks!    And  when  I  rushed  do\\  here 


294  HUNTING  TRIPS 

they  lay  I  found  I  had  pulled  a  little  to  one 
side,  and  the  bullet  had  broken  the  backs  of 
both.     While  my  companion    was    dressing 
them  I  went  back  and  paced  off  the  distance. 
It  was  just  four  hundred  and  thirty-one  long 
paces ;  over  four  hundred  yards.    Both  were 
large  bucks  and  very  fat,  with  the  velvet 
hanging  in  shreds  from  their  antlers,  for  it 
was  late  in  August.     The  day  was  waning 
and  we  had  a  long  ride  back  to  the  wagon, 
each  with  a  buck  behind  his  saddle.  When  we 
came  back  to  the  river  valley  it  was  pitch 
dark,  and  it  was  rather  ticklish  work  for  our 
heavily  laden  horses  to  pick  their  way  down 
the  steep  bluffs  and  over  the  rapid  stream; 
nor  were  we  sorry  when  we  saw  ahead  under 
a  bluff  the  gleam  of  the  camp  fire,  as  it  was 
reflected  back  from  the  canvas-topped  prairie 
schooner,  that  for  the  time  being  represented 
home  to  us. 

Tkis  was  much  the  best  shot  I  ever  made ; 
and  it  is  just  such  a  shot  as  any  one  will 
occasionally  make  if  he  takes  a  good  many 
chances  and  fires  often  at  ranges  where  the 


OF  A  RANCHMAN  295 

odds  are  greatly  against  his  hitting.  I  sup- 
pose I  had  fired  a  dozen  times  at  animals  four 
or  five  him  irds  off,  and  now,  by  the 

doctrine  of  chances,  1  happened  to  hit;  but 
I  would  have  been  very  foolish  if  I  had 
thought  for  a  moment  that  I  had  learned  how 
to  hit  at  over  four  hundred  yards.  I  have 
yet  to  see  the  hunter  who  can  hit  with  any 
regularity  at  that  distance,  when  he  has  to 
judge  it  for  himself;  though  I  have  seen 
plenty  who  could  make  such  a  long  range 
hit  now  and  then.  And  I  have  noticed  that 
such  a  hunter,  in  talking  over  his  experience, 
certain  soon  to  forget  the  numerous 
misses  he  made,  and  to  say,  and  even  to 
actually  think,  that  his  occasional  hits  repre- 
sented his  average  shooting. 

One  of  the  finest  black-tail  bucks  I  ever 
shot  was  killed  while  lying  out  in  a  rather 
nal  place.  I  was  hunting  mountain- 
sheep,  in  a  stretch  of  very  high  and  broken 
country,  and  about  mid-day,  crept  cauti< 
up  to  the  edge  of  a  great  gorge,  whose  sheer 
walls  went  straight  down  several  hundred 


296  HUNTING  TRIPS 

feet.  Peeping  over  the  brink  of  the  chasm 
I  saw  a  buck,  lying  out  on  a  ledge  so  nar- 
row as  to  barely  hold  him,  right  on  the  face 
of  the  cliff  wall  opposite,  some  distance  be- 
low, and  about  seventy  yards  diagonally 
across  from  me.  He  lay  with  his  legs  half 
stretched  out,  and  his  head  turned  so  as  to 
give  me  an  exact  centre-shot  at  his  forehead ; 
the  bullet  going  in  between  his  eyes,  so  that 
his  legs  hardly  so  much  as  twitched  when  he 
received  it.  It  was  toilsome  and  almost  dan- 
gerous work  climbing  out  to  where  he  lay; 
I  have  never  known  any  other  individual, 
even  of  this  bold  and  adventurous  species 
of  deer,  to  take  its  noonday  siesta  in  a  place 
so  barren  of  all  cover  and  so  difficult  of  ac- 
cess even  to  the  most  sure-footed  climber. 
This  buck  was  as  fat  as  a  prize  sheep,  and 
heavier  than  any  other  I  have  ever  killed ; 
while  his  antlers  also  were,  with  two  excep- 
tions, the  best  I  ever  got. 

END  OF  PART  ONE. 


Stories  of  Cotleoe  Xife 

THE  UNIVERSITY  SERIES 

I.  Harvard  Stories.— Sketches  of  the  Undergradu- 
ate.   By\V.  K.  TOST.    Fifteenth  edition.    I2',j>aper, 
50  cts. ;  cloth $1.00 

Post's  manner  of  telling  these  tales  is  In  Its  way  inimi- 
table. The  atmosphere  of  the  book  in  its  relation  to  the  localities 
re  the  scenes  are  laid  is  well-nigh  perfect.  The  different 
types  of  undergraduates  are  clearly  drawn,  and  there  is  a  dramatic 
element  in  most  of  the  stories  that  is  very  welcome.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  Harvard  men  will  find  keen  pleasure  in  this 
volume,  while  for  those  who  desire  a  faithful  picture  of  certain 
phases  of  American  student  life  it  offer*  a  noteworthy  fund  of 
instruction  and  entertainment."— Literary  AlrtM. 

II.  Yale  Yarns.— By  J.  S.   WOOD.     Fifth  edition. 
Illustrated.     12°  ....  .     $i-OO 
41  This  delightful  little  book  will  be  read  with  intense  interest 

by  all  Yale  men."— New  Haven  Eve.  LtcuU-r. 

*  Yale  atmosphere  is  wonderfully  reproduced  in  some 
of  the  sketches,  and  very  realistic  pictures  are  drawn,  particularly 
of  the  oW  » fence*  and  the  4old  brick  row.'"— Bottom  Tim**. 
**  College  days  are  regarded  by  most  educated  men  as  the 
cream  of  their  lives,  sweet  with  excellent  flavor.  They  are 
not  dull  and  tame  even,  to  the  most  devoted  student,  and  this  is  a 
volume  filled  with  the  pure  cream  of  such  existence,  and  many  'a 
college  jo  Ice  to  cure  the  dumps'  is  given.  It  is  a  bright,  realistic 
picture  of  college  life,  told  in  an  easy  conversational,  or  descrip- 
tive style,  and  cannot  fail  to  genuinely  interest  the  reader  who  has 
the  slightest  appreciation  of  humor.  The  volume  is  illustrated 
and  is  just  the  book  for  an  idle  or  a  lonely  hour."— Los  Angel** 
Times. 

The    Babe,   B.A.     The    Uneventful   History   of   a 
Young  Gentleman   in  Cambridge   University.      By 
EDWARD  F.  BENSON,  author  of  ••  Dodo."  etc. 
Illustrated.     12° $1.00 

r  story  tells  of  the  every-day  life  of  a  young  man  called 
die  Babe,  .  .  .  Cleverly  written  and  one  oftLe  beat  this 
author  has  written. "—L**4rr%  New  Haven. 

A  Princetonian.  A  Story  of  Undergraduate  Life  at 
the  College  of  New  Jersey.  By  JAMES  BARNES, 
Illustrated.  12°  ..  .  $1.25 

Barnes  »  a  loyal  son  of  the  College  of  New  Jer*^ 
the  cleverness  and  seal  to  write  this  story  of  undergraduate  life  in 
the  college,  following  his  successful  use  of  the  pen  in  earlier  books, 
For  King  and  County,  Midskifiman  Farraf*^  etc.  .  .  . 
There  is  enough  of  fiction  in  the  story  to  give  true  livelineat  to 
.  Mr.  Barnes's  literary  style  is  humorous  aad 
vivid. "-Bartv*  Trmntcrtfit. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


DETECTIVE    STORIES 

By    Anna   Katharine  Green 
THE  LEAVENWORTH  CASE 

A  Lawyer's  Story,     xooth  thousand.     Hudson  Library, 
No.  44.     12°;  paper,  50  cents;  cloth,  $1.25. 
"  She  has  proved  herself  as  well  able  to  write  an  interesting  story 
of  mysterious  crime  as  any  man  living."— London  Academy. 

THAT  AFFAIR  NEXT  DOOR 

38th  thousand.     Hudson  Library,  No.  17.    12°;  paper, 
50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"The  success  of  *  That  Affair  Next  Door,'  Anna  Katharine 
Green's  latest  novel,  is  something  almost  unprecedented.  Of  all 
the  tales  since^  The  Leavenworth  Case,'  this  has  had  the  greatest 
vogue  which  is  saying  considerable,  for  Mrs.  Rohlfs  enjoys  the 
distinction  of  being  one  of  the  most  widely  read  authors  in  this 
country.  'That  Affair  Next  Door,' with  its  startling  ingenuity, 
its  sustained  interest  and  its  wonderful  plot,  shows  that  the 
author's  hand  has  not  lost  its  cunning,  but  has  gained  as  the 
years  go  by." — Buffalo  Inquirer. 

LOST  MAN'S  LANE 

24th  thousand.     Hudson  Library,  No.  29.    12°;  paper, 
50  cents;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  Miss  Green  works  up  a  cause  cttebre  with  a  fertility  of  device 
and  ingenuity  of  treatment  hardly  second  to  Wilkie  Collins  or 
Edgar  Allan  Poe."—  The  Outlook. 

AGATHA    WEBB 

a8th  thousand.    12°;  cloth  only,  $1.25. 

"  This  is  a  cleverly  concocted  detective  story,  and  sustains  the 
well-earned  reputation  of  the  writer.  .  .  .  The  curiosity  of 
the  reader  is  excited  and  sustained  to  the  close." — Brooklyn 
Citizen. 

Other  detective  stories  by  this  author,  issued  in  paper  at  50 
cents;  in  cloth  at  $1.00,  are: 

A    STRANGE    DISAPPEARANCE 
THE  SWORD  OF  DAMOCLES 
HAND  AND  RING 
THE   MILL  MYSTERY 
BEHIND  CLOSED  DOORS 
CYNTHIA    WAKEHAM'S    MONEY 
MARKED   "PERSONAL" 
MISS  HURD 
DR.  IZARD 

G.   P.   Putnam's    Sons 


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